So farewell Fabio Capello, who will go down in history as being perhaps one of the few England managers not to have seen his side fall apart in international contest.
Having taken the armband from John Terry after he engaged in a bit of extra-marital off the pitch relationships Fabio had come out in favour of Terry keeping the England captaincy and will not support the FA's decision to strip terry of the armband because of his apparently racist altercation with Anton Ferdinand.
Now, oddly enough, I can see some logic in Capello's position because there was not doubt that Terry's adultery was proven, admitted and obvious and therefore, as there was no doubt, it made sense to remove the dubious honour of being the England captain from him. After all, England players should be role models for the youngsters of tour nation (now that's stretching it a bit perhaps considering some of those in the squad, but hey ho!).
Terry has been charged with racially abusing Ferdinand but as, in our legal system, one is considered innocent until proven guilty (by jurors, not the press and people with axes to grind) it seems to me that Terry is still, legally, an innocent man. This means the FA have acted as prosecution, jury and judge and having found him guilty just a bit before the trial has even started have decided to add 'executioner' to their list of skills.
Personal opinions regarding Terry and the Ferdinand case aside, I think Capello did the right thing in standing by Terry, sadly he did the wrong thing (twice)in picking him though.
Well done Fabio, the rumour mill had you linked with a nice Italian Job and now you can go with your integrity intact and no shame attached for England's results later in the year.
A real win-win (and now I guess we'll get 'Arry now he's been acquitted)!
2 comments:
Had Terry done the right thing and resigned once the charges were brought this would never have happened. Perhaps the real culprit might be considered to be the very man Capello stands in defence of?
And of course, had the FA perhaps called in Terry and Capello (together or individually) and discussed the whole sad and sorry tale we might have had a different situation again.
Of course the biggest problem might be with us in the Summer of Terry is, like 'Arry, acquitted. Then what does the FA do and how will it make them look?
In all, a very sad state of affairs.
Thanks for comments,
V
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