Five Quotes to Sum Up Capello’s Exit

Published: 9^th Feb 12 8:43 am

by Eric Imhof

RANT It!

Andreas Reichart/GEPA - US PRESSWIRE

No one willingly resigns from a 6-million-dollar (er, pound) job without good reason. So what went wrong with Fabio Capello at the helm of the English national team? There is a lot of speculation that the John Terry disaster was just a pretense to end an already shaky relationship. Others blame the media for hounding Capello since he took the reigns four years ago. And still others think he just wasn’t English enough (even though the English are really Norman, right?) Here are five quotes that I think sum it up well:

“The primary problem is that the press, if one is to lump them into one fevered single hive-mind consciousness, are never satisfied with the England manager.” – Nick Miller, Football365

“Redknapp is undoubtedly the stand-out candidate. Experienced, popular, with a proven ability to handle big players and personalities plus a knack for fashioning attractive teams ensures important boxes are ticked. And – crucially in the eyes of many passing judgement on who should be England’s next manager – he is English.” – Phil McNulty, BBC Sport, on Capello’s replacement

“The English could not stand him any longer and he could not stand the English any more… A politically correct excuse was required to terminate a marriage which has never been consummated…” – La Republicca (Italian newspaper)

“When the FA offered him a king’s ransom to revive their moribund team at the end of 2007, they cannot have done so in the belief that they would be hiring Martin Luther King…” – Richard Williams, The Guardian

“The irascible Italian resigned while Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp was celebrating being acquitted following a five-year police investigation, leading the former England captain to tweet: ‘Fabio out on the very day HR gets cleared. Coincidence?’” – Graham Smith, Mail Online

So who will be next to fill Capello’s very expensive Italian shoes? Redknapp? Dalglish? The Anfield Cat? Whoever it is needs to be ready for the lions’ den (feline pun intended).

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