The England Job - Now Its Serious!

I reckon England will now be a team to be feared and taken seriously, which is not something I can ever remember. Ever since Capello took over at the Bernabeu in 1996 and turned them from a shambles into champions in one season (whilst laying the foundations that won them 3 CL's in 5 seasons) despite being up against a magnificent Ronaldo-Figo inspired Barca side, I've rated him as the best manager in the world. I've always maintained that wherever he goes success is guaranteed. When he took over at Roma I predicted them to win the league, then again at Juventus, and last season I tipped Real Madrid. He's never let me down.

His reputation for playing dour football is unjust imo. It's not so important in Italy, but he's shown in Spain that he can adapt to play attacking football. In 96/97 his side were outscored by Ronaldo's Barcelona, but they were near impossible to beat and crushed most oppositions. For the second half of last season, when they finally gelled, Madrid were as good as any to watch and I don't believe his sacking was purely down to style of football. It's true that the Madridistas are notoriously hard to please and entertain, but the fact remains that Schuster had been lined up in January when they were on a dreadful run, and that he was Calderon's initial first choice prior to Capello's appointment.

My only reservation about whether he'll succeed with England or not is that he hasn't done so well in cup competitions. In 16 years he's secured 9 league titles with 4 different teams, but only 1 European Cup - which is also his only significant cup triumph (discounting Supercups). That was a long time ago, back in 1994, and probably remains the most outstanding performance from any side in final in the modern era. But since then his Roma and Juventus sides have performed dreadfully in the Champions League. Juve's performance against Liverpool in 2005 was quite abysmal. I think maybe he's more adept at building championship winning sides rather than cup winning sides (like Liverpool in a way) and that may tell again for England in when it comes to the World Cup.

That said, he's still the best appointment the English FA could make, imo.