FABIO Capello's arrival at FA headquarters for his first day of work as England head coach yesterday was greeted by criticism from Fifa president Sepp Blatter of the decision to appoint a foreign manager.
The Italian officially started work yesterday as Steve McClaren's successor, but Blatter has expressed his surprise at England returning to another foreign coach.
The Fifa president claimed the FA had "broken a principle of international
football" by not choosing an Englishman.
Blatter said: "I have never seen Italy, Germany, Brazil or Argentina with a coach from another country. In fact, most of the best teams have a coach from their own country. I would say it is a little surprising that the motherland of football has ignored a sacrosanct law or belief that the national team manager should be from the same country as the players."
Blatter said it was now "High Noon" for English football after the failure to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals and insists the domestic football authorities need to address the issue of overseas players in the game.
He added: "When you talk about being a football nation and you look at the big clubs in the Premier League, it is not the English or British game that is represented. The clubs are international XIs. There is no doubt that the Premier League is a global success story in terms of marketing and money. But one has to question whether this success has been for the benefit of the game, and not just in England but elsewhere, because the example of football's motherland is important.
"People want the best for their clubs and the Premier League clubs can afford it. But this does not serve football. To serve football you must never forget the national team."
Birmingham chairman David Gold has also hit out at the appointment of another foreign coach, and Gold wants Fifa to make it "a legal requirement" for all footballing nations in the top 64 in the world to have to appoint a home-grown coach.
He said: "I will say now that Capello has been appointed, and is officially taking up his job from this week, that I will be 100 per cent supportive of him.
"But I am sad. I understand it is very difficult for the FA because they are driven by a requirement for success and clearly not morality. That is the dominant judgment that they take – how can we get success?
"If they could win the Euro Championships or the World Cup and were allowed to do so, they would play 11 foreigners. That is how ridiculous the situation has become because it is so dominated by the desire for success.
"I think Fifa and Uefa should apply the same rules to the managers as they do to the players. By that, I mean you must be English to manage England, Spanish to manage Spain etc. It should be a legal requirement."
In meetings yesterday with FA chief executive Brian Barwick, director of football development Sir Trevor Brooking and England Under-21 coach Stuart Pearce, Capello outlined his thoughts on next week's World Cup fixtures meeting in Zagreb, his preferred summer programme of matches with England not playing at Euro 2008 and the close liaison he expects with Pearce during his time in the hotseat.
Capello has set himself up for a busy few days, during which time he will watch both Carling Cup semi-finals, at Stamford Bridge tonight and the Emirates Stadium tomorrow.
By the time he gets to tomorrow night, he will have seen the vast majority of the men likely to be in his first squad, for the visit of Switzerland to Wembley on 6 February. In all probability, he will also have visited Wembley and Arsenal's London Colney training complex, which England use as their southern base, offering an opportunity to renew acquaintances with David Beckham.
The former England captain is the only member of the squad Capello has experience of working with. Although their relationship at Real Madrid had a tempestuous phase, when Beckham was axed following his announcement of a now-completed move to LA Galaxy, it would be a major surprise if the 32-year-old was not named skipper against the Swiss, mainly because he will be winning his 100th cap.
Capello is also keen to work closely with Pearce to ensure the Under-21 set-up does prove to be a valuable breeding ground for future talent.
"I want to have a close working relationship with him," said Capello. "The Under-21s play an important part in the England (senior] team's development."
The full article contains 780 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
