Capello refuses to learn lessons of his mistakes

Capello
Matt Hughes

Fabio Capello has picked an unfortunate time to lose his aura of infallibility. The England manager has endured the most turbulent week of his previously ultra-successful reign, becoming embroiled in a series of controversies that have led to serious questions being raised regarding his judgment.

Capello has enough credit in the bank after steering England through a record-breaking qualifying campaign to ensure that his squad will leave for the World Cup next month with the full confidence of the fans behind them, but has felt the full force of scornful public opinion for the first time. The inscrutable Italian may be human after all.

Some of Capello’s recent decisions have been truly baffling, although the greatest concern is the fact that many of them are linked by a common undercurrent: naivety and lack of planning. Hardly the characteristics found in a World Cup-winning coach.

The England manager’s desire to endorse the infamous Capello Index during a tournament involving his own players – against the expressed wishes of his bosses at the FA – was simply a rank bad decision, with a combination of greed, vanity and stubbornness clouding his senses. Those who counselled Capello against any involvement have claimed that he simply could not see the problem and potential for dressing-room unrest inherent in the project, demonstrating a staggering naivety and a worrying lack of awareness of the mental fragility of some of his players.

Capello’s last-minute pleas to Jamie Carragher and Paul Scholes to come out of international retirement are also indicative of a lack of foresight and proper planning, as those telephone calls could have been made weeks or even months ago. Rio Ferdinand, Ledley King and Owen Hargreaves have been troubled by injuries to a greater or lesser degree all season, and further set-backs were always likely.

Today’s revelation, made in The Times, that David Beckham will undertake a coaching role in South Africa is in some ways the most troubling development yet, as it indicates that Capello has not learnt the lessons of the past few days. Beckham’s experienced and savvy advisors are understood to have been concerned by how the news would play with a public weary of the celebrity circus that surrounds the former England captain, but Capello does not appear to have given such problems a moment's thought.

Indifference to public opinion is Capello’s prerogative and can even be seen as a sign of strength, but even such a self-styled Iron Man cannot completely disregard the feelings of his own players. That way lies ruin. How will senior internationals such as John Terry, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand take to being given instructions from a team-mate, and what implications will Beckham’s sudden elevation to the coaching staff have for his own playing career? Retirement is not on the agenda for Beckham, as he rarely tires of telling us.

All of which is before we come to the question of whether Beckham has anything to offer, and if he is suited to coaching. The 34-year-old has repeatedly insisted that he has no interest in pursuing a career in coaching or management so his fast-track to the pinnacle of the profession is in actual fact the high road to nowhere.

Capello must surely have considered much of this, if not the niceties of public relations and presentation, before concluding that Beckham’s presence in the camp is worth all the potential pitfalls. If not, then he is guilty not just of naivety but negligence, which would not bode well for the World Cup.

http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/2010/05/capello-refuses-to-learn-lessons-of-his-mistakes.html