FA confirms Capello's job is safe

In a statement on its website, the Football Association has today confirmed - just days after he was told it would take two weeks to decide - that England manager Fabio Capello will continue in his role. Sir Dave Richards, the chairman of Club England (which was apparently set up in May - who knew?), said that the decision of the Club England board was unanimous:

"We are all still extremely disappointed at our performance in South Africa, and we believed it was important that we took some time to reflect on everything in a calm and considered manner back in England. After fully discussing our performance we remain convinced that Fabio is the best man for the job. He went into the World Cup with a reputation as one of World football’s finest managers and we are confident Fabio will benefit from his first international tournament experience and this will undoubtedly make us all stronger for the Euro 2012 campaign."

The team's performance in South Africa was nothing short of disgraceful and, in my view at least, indicated very serious problems with English football culturally, stylistically and morally. I stand by every word of my post-mortem post, drafted on the evening after England's defeat to Germany, including my concerns about Capello.

Those concerns probably require some clarification. If - and it's a big if - Capello is willing and able to adapt his squad selection, team choice and tactical system to better suit international tournament football, I'd love nothing more than for him to continue as England boss and oversee what I hope will be significant structural and developmental change. Capello is a managerial icon in European football and it still amazes me that he coaches our national team. However, I worry that he doesn't have the flexibility or modern insight that I believe, post-Bloemfontein, is required to succeed in the World Cup.

That being said, I see no reason to trust him with the short-term future of the England team and I think his involvement would benefit deeper change if indeed the wider problems are ever addressed.

All in all, I think this is a prudent move by the FA and one which indicates that they are not, probably wisely, going to make a rash decision based on one tournament. Is this cause to hope that the governing body is beginning to think beyond the team's immediate prospects, or is it simply a call made on a financial basis? It's certainly cheaper for England to keep Capello than it would be to sack and then replace him.

Either way, one has to wonder what on earth Richards was playing at when he supposedly told Capello that a decision would be made in two weeks. It sounds very much as if the decision taken by the board was not a difficult or time-consuming one, and as such surely a swift and emphatic dismissal of any speculation would have been more appropriate. Earlier this week, there seemed to be a feeling emanating from the FA that it should observe a period of solemn introspection as per public demand - just ask Ashley Cole and Ledley King, ludicrously forbidden amusement by our idiotic tabloid press. Regardless, the two-week red herring could and should have been avoided.

Of course, it's entirely possible that Richards simply failed to persuade Capello to resign.

The bigger issues remain, but despite my instinct that Capello's flaws slightly outweigh his excellence for this particular job I would argue stability at the top isn't a bad thing. Now, about those chairman and chief executive shaped holes...

(Pic via calciobook.it)