How Fabio Capello's iron fist rules Club England

In the steamy heat of a Caribbean morning some England players were not too enthusiastic about the coaching session ahead of their friendly against Trinidad and Tobago.

Fabio Capello was not amused. He brought the session to a halt, summoning the players around him.

He told them: "We can do this properly now or we can come back this afternoon. It's your decision."

The exercise was completed. No more Club 18-30. It was a welcome to Club England.

"It wasn't the last time he's done it," said a source within the new-look England set-up, which the Italian rules with an iron fist.

Capello doesn't desire discipline. He demands it. And the rewards were apparent last Wednesday night at Wembley.

Not so long ago, the concession of a goal would have signalled an England collapse. Not now - as John Terry's late winner against Ukraine testified. So what are the foundation stones to the Capello approach?

"It is all surnames now," said the England source. "No nicknames.

Everyone gets called by their surname. There are no favourites, no-one is guaranteed a place." So, no more dinner dates with JT, Stevie G, Wazza or Young Frank.

"Yes, I am very happy with the way the squad is developing," said Capello when he reflected on the victory at Wembley that kept his perfect World Cup qualification record intact. "It is better than I hoped for. It is like a club."

And that is exactly how Capello has run the show.

His first act came before a squad was named when he established a full-time medical backroom staff and abandoned the practise of using personnel on a match-to-match basis.

Sir Alex Ferguson, for one, was never comfortable with club physios treating his Manchester United players.

Then came the rules. Punctuality, a dress code, a ban on mobile phones at meal times and a new schedule ahead of training.

Punctuality ? Just ask Frank Lampard. One morning, his journey from west London to England's Watford hotel was a tortuous one. In previous years, it might have been laughed off among the group.

Capello broke off from his meal, listened to Lampard's explanation then pointedly declared: "Well, in future you will have to leave earlier."

He wasn't joking. It wasn't just Frank who got the lesson. So did the rest of the squad. Nowadays if a player mistakenly brings his mobile phone to a meal and it rings, Capello needs to do nothing. The other players berate the guilty party.

Dress code ? Everyone wears official England gear at lunch and dinner. As long as it has the Three Lions emblem, Capello is happy.

"Those Three Lions are your club badge. That is how it should be treated," he says.

Training? Before his arrival, players would get changed in their hotel rooms. Inevitably, some would be quicker which meant that a group of players would be waiting on the coach for a tardy teammate.

Now they get changed together in the dressing room at the training ground. "We are all together," is the Capello ethos. The players change together, they go out as a group and they come back as a group.

The unblemished set of results in competitive matches suggests Capello is getting it right. And any fears about the condition of players ahead of the two qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Andorra in June can be allayed.

England stars not involved in either the Champions League or FA Cup finals will be free to chill out on a beach following the end of the Premier League season. Time for a few beers maybe.

"I cannot forbid it," admits Capello. The smart money, though, is on an alcohol-free sojourn, no unsavoury headlines and a voluntary fitness regime to ensure readiness for the World Cup.

It is Club England not Club Tropicana these days.

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