Has Fabio and his farcical Capello Index put English football at its lowest point for 40 years?

By Terry Butcher

Published 23:02 17/07/10

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I don’t think that we really want to believe that English football is at its lowest point for nearly 40 years.

I’m still embarrassed about England’s World Cup ­performances and dismayed by the FA’s ostrich-like mentality in allowing us to reach such a demoralising and ­humiliating low.

And it gets worse – yesterday’s release of the Capello Index, postponed prior to the World Cup, will infuriate the England players and ­underline just how poorly the coach thought of their efforts over the summer.

The players would not have expected Fabio Capello to draw even more attention to their shortcomings by highlighting their failure on his lucrative website.

I’m astounded that England’s head coach has resorted to this naïve money-grabbing level and can only have angered the bigwigs at the FA with the timing and content of the Index.

The markings resemble an end-of-term report at school but when the ratings are that low the Board of Governors usually takes action against the teacher.

When I entered Capello’s name into his own Index, no data was found and therefore no mark was issued. I wonder how highly the ­players rate Capello today.

The arrogance of the FA, in agreeing to remove the ­termination clause in Capello’s lucrative and ­financially crippling ­contract prior to that ­disastrous tournament, smacks of vanity of the ­highest order.

Did the FA convince themselves there was no way this catastrophe was going to happen, and that Capello’s “magic” would prevent England’s worst ever showing in a World Cup competition?

Well, the fact that England have risen a place in the ­ridiculous FIFA rankings should not detract from the realisation that the future of football in this country is extremely bleak.

From the top to the bottom, there is no leadership or structure, with the top brass at the FA spending money like drunken lottery millionaires. To compound the ­misery, Capello has been asked to take part in fast-tracking new coaches and organising a programme for coaching development.

One of the first points for any new coach should be to make certain players are not exhausted for any tournament due to excessive training, which happened in Austria in the build-up to South Africa.

Another point would be to ensure the relationship between the players and the head coach does not become damaged beyond repair.

Capello has said he wants to avenge this summer’s calamity by winning Euro 2012! Does he think we are so naïve as to trust his word again?

Point three for new coaches; Don’t make unattainable promises you can’t keep.

August 11 could prove to be pivotal for Capello, not only because it is the first international of the season but also because it will be the first chance for the fans to “welcome back” some of the flops from two months earlier.

For the first time that I can remember, especially at ­Wembley, the crowd’s reaction to an England team could be extremely hostile, and every member of that fateful squad will have to endure a torrent of abuse for some time at Premier League grounds.

More importantly for the FA, how many supporters will pay to see a repetition of the inept and hopeless displays of the recent past?

If both the players and the fans turn their back on the head coach, we really will have reached rock bottom.

The only possible way forward for Fabio is to select quality youngsters and give youth its head, and to jettison those who have let the country down in every recent tournament.

Capello should also be warned that the day after the match against Hungary is the Glorious Twelfth – the start of the shooting season.

He should hope no one at the FA has him in their sights should the shame continue.

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