What went wrong for Fabio Capello in England?
The England national team has been historically regarded as a side that has underperformed, especially considering they haven't won an international competition in men's football since the 1966 World Cup. Despite having a plethora of legendary players throughout the years, English football has struggled to deliver when it matters, which is an issue that plagued Fabio Capello's tenure.
However, that wasn't the case. England had an underwhelming group stage in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and were easily pummelled by Germany in the round of 16. So, what went wrong for Capello in this project? Let's find out.
The Capello Index
This is something that has been lost in time, but before the events of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, there was something nicknamed "The Capello Index" where there were ratings of the players' performances and ratings regarding said performances.That is a revelation that rubbed a lot of people the wrong way and failed to generate rapport with the players, which was already a problem for Capello to begin with. The Italian manager decided to drop the index, but the damage was done.
Rash decisions regarding squad-building
There were a lot of controversial and divisive decisions regarding the building of the squad, especially when the national team started to struggle with injuries. A notorious example was omitting Theo Walcott from the main squad after the latter had some stellar moments in the qualifying rounds, which highlights Capello's inconsistency in that area.Moreover, the decision to retire David Beckham from the national team, despite still performing and having a major role of leadership, was controversial, although both men also had their issues during the 2006/07 season at Real Madrid. There was also a lot of mystery regarding the captaincy, with a lot of debates regarding the best choice between John Terry and Rio Ferdinand.
When injuries began to take a hit before the World Cup, he attempted to call back Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes after the latter wasn't a part of the project. While Scholes is one of the greatest midfielders of all time, he claimed that the call was too late. The same thing happened with Liverpool center-back Jamie Carragher, although the latter did accept.
The language barrier
It is telling that Capello, while successful in his two seasons at Real Madrid since he won the La Liga title twice, has oftentimes struggled abroad when endearing himself to the fans, the players, and the media. That is something that he continuously struggled with in England, having a very basic handle on the English language, which has resulted in a lot of problems communicating with the people around him.This resulted in a lot of communication issues with his players, a failure to rally the fans during press conferences, and overall becoming a rather divisive figure in the long run. While this doesn't mean that this was the main source of his failure with England, it goes without saying that this influenced the situation.
John Terry - here in Chelsea
The John Terry situation
It has become part of English football folklore that John Terry was romantically involved with teammate Wayne Bridge's wife, resulting in a lot of problems during the 2009/10 season when it was leaked. This is why Capello, despite having handled it poorly, rightfully chose to strip the captaincy away from him, but the problem arose when the center-back made some complaints during the group stage of the World Cup.As England was struggling with their preformances, Terry wanted to talk to Capello so the Italian could make some changes. However, ever the authoritarian, he decided to ignore these claims and this resulted in a much more divided dressing room in the long run. This is a problem that would affect the remainder of the Italian's time as England's manager as they would be easily eliminated in the competition by Germany.
It is difficult to confirm that listening to the Chelsea captain would have made much of a difference, but it goes to show the manager's unflexible nature. It is an issue that plagued the vast majority of his tenure and was something that didn't help him during such a critical time for the team.
Conclusion
All in all, Fabio Capello's time as the England national football coach was a failure since he not only managed to get the team to compete. Furthermore, he is widely regarded as the last manager with the opportunity to get the most out of the so called "Golden Generation", which makes his time with the national team a lot more frustrating for a lot of people in the grand scheme of things.Whether it's tactical, dealing with the media, the captaincy, or any other topic, it can be argued that the failure of his tenure is not only tied to one reason but rather a combination of several elements. This is something that provides a lot more context and also serves to point out how perhaps Capello was doomed from the start.