Fabio Capello's departure isn't all that it seems, that's for certain.

Yes, they say he has resigned, but if that's the case then why are we hearing that he's got a gagging order on him as part of his severance deal? Let's be honest about this here, he's been sacked, no matter what way you dress it up.

Capello: did he walk or was he pushed?

Also, if you resign you walk away without any money. He was pushed, it's too obvious, and for him to keep his dignity and pride they will say he resigned. I wrote on this website on Monday that I didn't think he would walk away and my thoughts are still the same. He hasn't walked away himself, he was shoved.

Maybe he fell into a trap by making the decision to talk about the John Terry situation in the Italian press. I am an employee of Sky Sports and I have been a football manager in the past and if my superiors were to make a decision then it wouldn't be right for me to come out and say that I wasn't happy about it.

I know Sir Alex Ferguson has said the manager must have the final say, but this isn't club football where people like him rule the roost. This is international football and The FA made the decision to take the captaincy from Terry because they considered that to be right for the country and for England as a whole.

Whatever Capello's thoughts on the issue, he should have kept them to himself and spoken to The FA privately. As soon as he made that statement in Italy, there were always going to be problems.

This will have been a mutually-agreed departure whereby they'll give him some money and he'll keep his mouth shut and neither of them will say anything disparaging about each other. End of story.

Time

It's hard for us to sum up Capello's time in charge because when you listen to some of the lads who played for him, they seem to have a lot of time for him - and they know him better than we do.

But when you look at things from the outside, it seems that the language barrier was a problem - and it never got any better. To me, that didn't appear to be a problem to him and when you consider the length of time he's been here he should have been fluent by now.

He should have been working a lot more with the football clubs, going around and working with the managers and getting to know players a lot more. He should have been taking sessions at clubs and working with the Under-21's, but he didn't do all of the things that a normal England manager would have done.

Maybe it's because this wasn't his country - and also because of the amount of abuse he got after South Africa. Those things can't have helped his enthusiasm.

I don't think Capello would have been surprised if he'd lost his job straight after the World Cup because that was his lowest moment in football. He had a wonderful track record before he came to England, but now he's gone.

Good news

Now there is only one stand-out candidate and we all know who that is.

If Harry Redknapp ends up getting the job then this can only be good news. Now he's been cleared of any wrongdoings with regards to the Inland Revenue then the nation will expect The FA to offer him the job.

I've no doubt that Harry would be willing to do the job on a part-time basis and then once the season is over he will be clear to manage England.

As he openly admits, he's just been through the worst two-and-a-half weeks of his life and he probably won't be in a position to answer the question at this moment in time. However, if we give it a couple more weeks, get the friendly with Holland out of the way, then The FA can sit down and talk to him. He's the prime candidate and I think he will walk straight into the job.

Wayne Rooney has already stated that he'd love to play for Harry and we all know that players like to play for him. The likes of Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand and the experienced players will all give another yard for him and that can only be a good thing for the country.

Someone like Rafael van der Vaart will play wide right when Aaron Lennon is unavailable because he wants to play there. Under another manager he might say: 'I'd rather play behind the striker', but that's not how it is under Harry. He has the capability and quality to get players performing.

Harry will also love working with the young boys and he will make them want to play for him. He'll play people where they are most comfortable and you only have to look at the football that Spurs are playing at this moment in time to see what we can expect.

England's chances at Euro 2012 have gone up already.

back to top