In May 2010, England’s ‘golden generation’ were readying themselves for the World Cup in South Africa, a tournament where, under the leadership of Fabio Capello, they were going to take the competition by storm…
That had been the idea after an imperious qualifying campaign but as the tournament neared, injuries and the well publicised controversy surrounding Wayne Bridge and John Terry that had seen Terry replaced as England captain had seen optimism waver. So FourFourTwo decided to check in with Capello and see what was really going on. Unsurprisingly, discipline was on the menu.
“When we met for the first time I told the players they had to have respect for each other, for me, my staff – when we are eating, training, working, when we are on the team bus. Always. You have to respect the rules…This is important. It is not important only the game but the spirit of the group, what happens, the time you are together.”
Capello went into great detail on the problems an England manager faces going into a tournament, which will give you a greater understanding of the job and of Gareth Southgate’s achievements across a lengthy interview. You can find it here.
