Fabio Capello: England would have done better with me at Euros
Last updated on .From the section Football
Former England coach Fabio Capello says the team would have gone further at Euro 2012 had he still been in charge.
Capello, whose England team lost in the second round at the 2010 World Cup, resigned in February after the FA removed John Terry as captain.
Roy Hodgson's England reached the Euro 2012 quarter-finals and Capello, now coach of Russia, said: "If I were with your guys it would've been even better.
"I'd worked there for four years and after what happened I wanted to stop."
Terry lost the England captaincy while awaiting trial on allegations he racially abused QPR defender Anton Ferdinand, which he was cleared of earlier this month.
"We had qualified for the finals and it was only the John Terry story that meant I couldn't go to the finals," said 66-year-old Capello, who presided over 42 matches as England boss, winning 28, losing six and drawing eight.
"On that issue with the English (FA), with my contract, it was put down on paper that the decision as to who would be captain should be made only by the coach. It was down on paper, in the contract, in black and white.
"Every national coach works for two years towards a goal - that is the ambition of every coach - but I was not given the opportunity to fight for the Euros with England.
"When you are told this is the goal... if you are always interfered with, you don't feel well. You feel ill at ease. I wanted to be the main guy with the national team again and to take a team to Brazil. I wanted that again."
Comments
Join the conversation
I am very glad to see the back of this man, what an unsavoury attitude he has.
The sooner we realise this and start with a grass roots revamp of how we teach and coach football at all levels the better.
There are reasons the Brazilians, Germans and Italians are multiple WC winners. Just go to any youth football session in these countries and you would understand why?
I hope you are being sarcastic, because on form in competitive games for England, if Rooney were any other player he would have been dropped by now. He last played well in a competitive game for England in Euro '04, and has lived off media hype. Good player for his club, but poor for England. He was so mediocre in the Euros just gone he should have been subbed.
Could only speak about a hundred words of English, played Gerrard on the left, made Heskey first choice, couldn't get Rooney to play properly, made a mess of the captaincy, Drew 0-0 with Algeria in the worst match i've ever seen... great job!
The only positive is he was slightly better than Steve Mclaren.
Go on ... prove me wrong!
Capello's statement has as much credence and relevance as those idiots who predict who will win the League before the season starts.
The only interesting thing about it ... why is it news?
Roberto Baggio,Gabriel Batistuta,Hristo Stoickhov,Jurgen Klinsman and Marco van Basten.These are WORLD CLASS players perhaps a notch or two lower than the Maradonas,Romarios,Messis of this World but still WORLD CLASS. Let us stop naming Wayne Rooney in the same breath.It is really annoying
Cappello did get us qualified for the Wc and the Euros after all, and we improved quite a bit in the rankings as well. Capello, and Hodgson, had to do away with players who can't even keep the ball.