• World Cup

Capello stay likely after Brooking backs England boss

ESPN Soccernet staff
July 1, 2010
The FA are ready to stand by Fabio Capello © Getty Images
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Fabio Capello looks set to survive as England head coach thanks to a groundswell of support among the Football Association hierarchy.

Sir Dave Richards, the Premier League chairman who also heads the new 'Club England' national team project, is now being urged to recommend to the FA board Capello is kept on despite England's World Cup failure.

There is a feeling the blame for England's disappointing performance and second round exit can be traced back to a lack of youth development, not Capello's ability, and that a new manager would have the same problems as the Italian.

It is understood Sir Trevor Brooking, the FA's director of football development and a key figure in the process, wants Capello kept on for the rest of his contract until 2012. Brooking's view is that replacing him with another manager will not solve the underlying problem with English football, and a number of FA board and international committee members are also of the same opinion.

At the FA's post mortem of the World Cup fiasco, Brooking will argue for a properly-funded long-term masterplan to bring through young players, starting by increasing the number of coaches at youth level. Capello's 10 years' experience working at AC Milan's academy during the 1980s also add weight to the argument for him to stay as he could have a major input into the future development of young players.

Some FA figures believe the £9 million that would be saved by not firing Capello and employing a replacement on a similar salary level would be a good start in terms of funding youth development. The remaining two years on Capello's contract would also give Stuart Pearce more experience both at under-21 level and as the Italian's assistant, and grooming him to be a ready-made replacement in 2012.

The FA's post-mortem will also include a big debate on the future of youth football. The Professional Game Youth Development Group, set up in 2008 following a review by Richard Lewis and headed by Howard Wilkinson, was disbanded after just one year by the Football League and Premier League. Since then there has been no decision-making body in control of youth development in English football.

Richard Caborn, the former sports minister who forced through the Burns review of the FA, said: "We can't just deal with the symptoms, we have to get to the root of the problem. English football and the Premier League have to come together to develop young English players. Fabio Capello is one of the best coaches in the world and if the FA replace him then it is just papering over the cracks and the same problem will come up again.''

The issue of a winter break is also likely to come up again - former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson believes the Premier League must introduce one if the national side are to be successful at major tournaments. Capello also spoke of the need for a break in his final press conference before England departed South Africa on Monday.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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