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Post by Macmoish on Aug 12, 2010 6:21:39 GMT
Classy Capello!  Guardian Dominic FifieldCapello calls time on David Beckham's England career in brutal fashion
• Beckham set to bid farewell in friendly against France
• Capello says 'supporters love Rooney' despite boos
Dominic Fifield 2010 David Beckham discovered his illustrious England career had been curtailed last night after Fabio Capello revealed, in a brief 17-word statement, that the former captain would play no further competitive football for the national team. The dysfunctional nature of Capello's England regime was exposed once again after the Italian revealed in a television interview, actually conducted on Monday but broadcast prior to last night's friendly against Hungary, that he considered Beckham too old at 35 to continue a career that has encompassed 115 caps, 17 goals and three World Cups. "Thank you for helping me during the World Cup, but probably [he is] a little bit old," Capello said. "Thank you." Yet the Italian last night admitted that he had, as yet, been unable to communicate as much to the Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder, who is in rehabilitation from an achilles injury, in the 48 hours since the interview was conducted, with Beckham's representative duly reacting in surprise at the news. While there is little shock in Capello's desire to select youthful players such as Theo Walcott and Adam Johnson, who excelled in last night's 2-1 win over Hungary, the clumsy breakdown in communication with Beckham is troubling. The veteran sat on the England bench among the coaching staff at this summer's World Cup, yet his representative was moved to issue a statement last night denying that Beckham would ever consider going voluntarily into international retirement. Asked whether he had telephoned the midfielder to tell him that he would no longer be selected for competitive games, Capello said: "No. No. But I think I will speak with him. We tried to speak with him. I think David knows that he has no future with the national team because we have to change. Probably someone has rung him now before I called him. We tried to speak with him, but we haven't managed to. "Someone asked me about Beckham [on Monday] and I said we have to look for new players, young players. You can see this evening the new players who can play on the right and left wings. I think, I hope, that when David is OK he can play here in a friendly at Wembley to say 'goodbye' and 'thank you very much'. "I won't pick him for any more competitive games. I change it. We need players for the future with Fabio Capello and the managers after me. I have to look for new players. He was a fantastic player but age is important for all people, not only David." That friendly is likely to be in November, probably against France, although Beckham was unaware of Capello's decision ahead of last night's game. "There has been no discussion of retirement," the player's spokesman said. "He will always be available for his country, when fit, and if needed he will be there." The current captain Steven Gerrard, whose late brace deflated Hungary, praised his former team-mate's contribution over an England career that began back in 1996. "He's got legendary status, without a doubt," said Gerrard. "He was a fantastic captain and, if he has played his last game, he'll certainly be missed both on and off the pitch. But you never know with David. I'm sure that, if he hears that news, it'll drive him on and he'll try to prove people wrong." The lack of communication follows on from the embarrassing retirements of Paul Robinson and Wes Brown over the weekend following their selection for last night's friendly against Hungary. "But Paul Robinson knew he was in the 38 players who had been advised [they were to be in the provisional squad] and he didn't telephone us to say 'no' then," said Capello. "It was only when he was in the 23 that he said no." The furore rather overshadowed an England performance that was encouraging at times and infuriating at others. The abuse that had been anticipated following the team's failure at the World Cup was directed at a quartet of players – Wayne Rooney and the contingent of starters from Chelsea – though there was a chorus of boos at the interval with the game goalless and when Phil Jagielka put through his own net to edge the Hungarians ahead. Rooney was barracked upon his substitution midway through the second half, appearing to applaud all sides of the ground sarcastically as he departed, though others in the 72,024 crowd sought to drown out the catcalls with applause. There were similar shows of petulance in South Africa, particularly after the draw with Algeria in Cape Town, with Rooney having now failed to score for country in 11 months. "But I'm not worried about a rift (between Rooney and the fans)," said Capello. "The supporters love Rooney, I'm sure. He's a really important England player and can make the difference in every game. We have to wait. He's not in a good moment and has to play more. Probably he won't be good for the next game that (Manchester United) play in the Premier League, either. He's a big player, but he needs to play more games. "There is criticism because the fans want him to make a difference and to play really well. But he couldn't have played better than this evening. He's had 45 minutes in one pre-season game, 45 minutes in another and 65 minutes tonight. It would be impossible to have played better. "I'm happy because we found new players tonight. There was pressure in this game, and the players can take big confidence from how they did: (Kieran) Gibbs did well, Bobby Zamora too, and Ashley Young and Adam Johnson. I would have played (Jack) Wilshere more but he was in hospital last night with stomach pain and only returned to us at 5am, so he could play only 10 minutes." www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/12/fabio-capello-david-beckham-england
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Post by Macmoish on Aug 12, 2010 6:22:57 GMT
The Guardian/Paul Hayward
David Beckham's England career snuffed out by Fabio Capello on TV
England's comedy of ego-struggles and miscommunications continued with the botched handling of Beckham's 'retirement' As a moth to the media lamp David Beckham can hardly object to having his England career ended in a TV interview. He minded when Steve McClaren dumped him after the 2006 World Cup and fought his way back, into the squad but there is no skirting round Fabio Capello's insistence in a televised pre-match conversation that Beckham is "a little bit old" to win another competitive cap. The England coach's sureness of touch deserted him in South Africa and there was no sign of it returning as he appeared to have demobbed Beckham without telling him first, though there were claims late last night that Capello had conveyed his decision through an intermediary. "I say thank you very much for helping me at the World Cup but probably he is a little bit old," Capello said on ITV before the 2-1 victory over Hungary. But in a statement sent to the BBC, Beckham's agent said: "There has been no discussion of retirement. He will always be available for his country, when fit, and if needed he will be there." This all fits the comedy of ego-struggles and miscommunications that has characterised English football this summer. Beckham can control most things but not time or Capello's aloofness. The Italian has been tiptoeing across an ice sheet of supporter angst and player disaffection since England were hammered by Germany in Bloemfontein and has landed himself with another diplomatic problem by stating the obvious on TV rather than allowing Beckham his choreographed exit. After the debacle at the World Cup plenty of England players expected to feel the cold steel of Capello's blade but it was a non-combatant who went first: "Coach Beckham", as he was known after joining the England back-room staff in South Africa, recovering from a serious achilles injury and now doomed never to break Peter Shilton's England record of 125 appearances. On a night when a cull of underachievers was demanded by many England fans in a stunningly large 72,000 Wembley crowd, Capello erased the last international ambitions of the leader of the so-called golden generation, who emerged in the Noughties with huge reputations and even bigger pay packets. Some, such as Steven Gerrard, the new captain, who scored both England goals against Hungary, survive, but at 35 Beckham has been consigned to a shadowland of thwarted promise. Capello is under immense pressure to discard a generation of players who have fallen short for the past decade and the truth is that it was easy to start with one who is burdened with ageing and increasingly injury-prone legs. In last night's game Capello used the young flyers Theo Walcott, Adam Johnson and Ashley Young in wide positions. There is no room now for Beckham's intelligent but ponderous dead-ball prowess. Twelve years after he scored his first England goal, against Colombia at the 1998 World Cup in France, Beckham has been purged in absentia. An achilles problem, sustained in a game for Milan in March, may seem an appropriate weakness for a player who turned himself into a god of the new football celebocracy. Beckham overcame countless obstacles before the clock defeated him: McClaren's faintly showy attempt four years ago to prove England could live without their product-shifting idol, Capello's anger when the two were yoked at Real Madrid and Beckham announced he would be joining LA Galaxy, and finally the hostility of those who accused him of prolonging his England career to protect the Beckham brand. Some felt he had no business surpassing Bobby Moore to become England's most capped outfield player. Beckham ramped up his total with cameos in friendlies. This classically English drama has no bearing on the team's prospects of qualifying for Euro 2012. Beckham was a bit-part player by the end and has slowed in his movements to a regal stroll. But the symbolic importance is unmistakable. The former captain had waged war on the most formidable opponent: time itself, and was intent on being remembered as the most ubiquitous England player in history. All this disguised the reality that his international career was one of badly timed injuries and blow-outs. Sent off in his first World Cup, 12 years ago, he had barely recovered from a broken metatarsal in 2002 and was a ghostly presence at Euro 2004. In 2006 he left the podium in tears after resigning the captaincy in the wake of England's quarter-final defeat. He constructed around himself a beguiling myth: he was the new Moore for the commercial age. Much of it was sincere. In other aspects it reflected his awareness that the England crest boosted his corporate profile. Capello's clumsy announcement will be demotivating. At 35 an achilles injury is particularly hard to overcome. Beckham trained diligently in South Africa to extend his England reign. Now all he can look forward to is run-outs for LA Galaxy. Obsolescence claims him, as it does all footballers: even those accustomed to writing their own narratives. "Too old" said Capello. And Beckham heard it on TV: the window for his life. www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/aug/12/david-beckham-fabio-capello-england
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Post by Macmoish on Aug 12, 2010 6:37:09 GMT
Independent/Jason Burt
Fabio Capello gaffe embarrassing for David Beckham
Fabio Capello gained a victory in his first post-World Cup match for England on Wednesday night but scored an embarrassing and damaging own goal by calling time on David Beckham’s international career in a pre-recorded television interview before the game without first informing the player. When asked whether the 35 year-old — still recovering from the Achilles injury which prevented him from being in the squad for South Africa — had a future playing for England, Capello said: “I thank (David) very much for helping me at the World Cup but he is probably too old.” Although the decision makes complete sense — and is hardly unexpected — the manner in which it was revealed reflects extremely poorly on Capello. It adds to a gathering sense that the 64-year-old Italian is not fully in touch with his job at present. He also appears to have been badly advised especially as it was later confirmed by Beckham’s advisers that the player has not been told in advance by Capello, who has a close relationship with the former captain and took him to the World Cup as part of his coaching staff, of the decision. In a statement, Beckham’s agent said: “For your information, there has been no discussion of retirement. He will always be available for his country, when fit and if needed he will be there.” To add to that sense of Capello — and the Football Association — not being in control of the situation it transpired that the TV interview was pre-recorded on Monday before being played just before kick-off against Hungary last night. No-one appeared to be aware of the magnitude of the story or the stir it would cause. Later, in his post-match briefings, Capello appeared shocked at the interest in what he had said. “You ask me about Beckham in the last press conference? Someone did,” he said, before being reminded the question had been put to him in a TV interview. “ITV, yes, yes,” Capello added. “I said that, with Beckham, we have to look for new players, young players. You can see this evening the new players who can play on the right and left wings. I think, I hope, that when David is OK he can play here a friendly against Wembley to say 'bye bye’ and thank you very much. I won’t pick him for any more competitive games. I change it. We need players for the future with Fabio Capello and the managers in the future.” When pushed if it was “definitely” the end for Beckham — who has fought his way back into the reckoning before of course — he added: “At this moment, David is a fantastic player. He was really important. But I think we have to monitor him to see the new players for the future. Age is important for all people, not only for us and for David.” The decision may be fair enough but it is the manner in which it was revealed that will cause bewilderment and fuel the argument that Capello is failing to communicate properly with his players. Did he call Beckham? “No. No. But I think I will speak with him,” he said. “We tried to speak with him.” But did Beckham not deserve the courtesy of being warned in advance? “I think David knows that he has no future with the national team because we have to change,” came the reply. The questions — rightly — continued. How, then, did Beckham know? “What you said — probably someone rung him before I called him,” Capello said. So, therefore, there has been a communication? “No,” Capello added confusingly. “We tried to speak with him, but we haven’t managed to.” It was shambolic, embarrassing, and carried on with Capello informed that Beckham’s spokesman had also released a statement. “Yes, I know,” the manager said. “But I have to change everything. It’s only eight people who played in the World Cup are here. I have to change. I have to look for new players. I have to think about the future.” Few would argue with that. But there are ways and means of doing things. Captain Steven Gerrard gave his own tribute but added: “You never know with David. I’m sure that if he hears that news, it’ll drive him on and he’ll try to prove people wrong and try to get back in the set-up because I know he loves playing for England. “I don’t know whether Fabio Capello has spoken to David. I don’t know what’s happened there. But David can hold his head up high." www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/players/david-beckham/7940151/Fabio-Capello-gaffe-embarrassing-for-David-Beckham.html
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Sabas
Dave Sexton
Posts: 2,349
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Post by Sabas on Aug 12, 2010 8:51:14 GMT
He's right about the new players and Adam Johnson (on the right) and Kieran Gibbs (on the left) were excellent last night. Me and Neil Warnock thought Gibbs was better than A.Cole  |
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Post by Lonegunmen on Aug 12, 2010 18:35:30 GMT
But are they better than Fitz hall?
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Post by Macmoish on Aug 14, 2010 7:30:13 GMT
Guardian Dominic Fifield
David Beckham snubs Fabio Capello offer of farewell England friendly• Former captain determined to fight for competitive action
• Confusion over England manager's apparent change of heart David Beckham will reject any offer from Fabio Capello of a farewell England appearance in the conviction that he still has a role to play with the national side in their bid to qualify for Euro 2012. The England manager said ahead of last night's friendly victory over Hungary that he deems the 35-year-old too old to figure in his plans as England attempt to reach the next European Championship finals. When asked about Beckham's future as an international player after the 2-1 win the Italian suggested the former captain would be granted an appearance in a friendly at Wembley "to say bye bye and thank you very much", but would play no further competitive matches. That news came as a surprise to Beckham and his representatives, who had been made aware of Capello's initial comments – delivered in a television interview conducted on Monday but broadcast 48 hours later – in a telephone call from the England general manager, Franco Baldini, earlier in the week. The message then had been that, while the time had come to blood new talent, Beckham would remain under consideration if he proved his form and fitness once he had recovered from the achilles tendon injury which ruled him out of the World Cup. Beckham, who returned to light training with Los Angeles Galaxy yesterday, had willingly accepted that and is adamant he would only wish to be selected by his country on merit. He is reluctant to feature in what would amount to a ceremonial 116th cap, most likely against France on 17 November. That notion was never mooted in the conversation with Baldini. Beckham had been encouraged by Capello's proclamation in March, after Beckham had undergone surgery on the achilles shredded while playing with Milan, that: "We hope David will be fit for the next year, for the Euros qualifying. He's always one of the best players in England." That assessment has clearly changed in the wake of the team's serious failings at the World Cup finals, with Capello now deciding the time has come to move on. The pair's relationship apparently remains strong. The midfielder was within the England set-up in South Africa, sitting on the bench for the side's games and with the backroom staff at the team hotel, in his vaguely defined role as a liaison between playing and coaching squads. "For me, David is a fantastic man and a fantastic player," the Italian said. "My relationship with him is really good. I am sure 100% he will play the next friendly game here if he is fit." The confusion surrounding Capello's impromptu and clumsy announcement, and his failure to warn one of the most decorated players in England's history that his international career was over, is the latest in a line of breakdowns in communication to blight the national set-up. The initial remark made to ITV at the end of their interview on Monday – "Thank you [Beckham] for helping me during the World Cup, but probably [he is] a little bit old" – came as a throwaway line, with Capello clearly having underestimated the level of reaction it would generate. While Baldini relayed the message to Beckham in Los Angeles, his success in contacting the player's representatives was apparently not relayed to Capello, who claimed: "We tried to speak with him but we haven't managed to" after the Hungary match. Baldini, as general manager and Capello's close confidant, is charged with dealing directly with players – his English is excellent – and has always handled such issues.It was the No2, for example, who contacted Paul Scholes back in May to sound him out over a possible return to the international fold. Yet, as results have started to go against the side on the pitch, so have suggestions that the management set-up is not entirely in touch with their players' intentions. Scholes indicated that he might have considered the offer of a recall more seriously had Capello contacted him directly, while the untimely retirements of Paul Robinson and, to a certain extent, Wes Brown last weekend added to the unnerving sense of chaos in the buildup to yesterday's friendly.There were suggestions tonight that Capello's offer to grant Beckham one last chance to play at Wembley – albeit in a friendly – was a hurriedly delivered recognition that he had misjudged the mood as his comments were publicly dissected. Regardless, Beckham's former team-mates were quick to praise the veteran's impact over an international career that had spanned 14 years. "David is a fantastic, experienced player," Theo Walcott said. "He has always been there for me. Every time I go away [with England] I always sit next to him for dinners, and the amount of emails and phone calls he has given me throughout the summer, with supportive words … I have kept my emails just to wind up my sister who is quite jealous of that. He is one of those guys I have so much respect for, and any young player growing up should look at him because for me, personally, he is one of the perfect professionals in the game." www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/12/david-beckham-fabio-capello-england
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Post by Macmoish on Aug 14, 2010 7:55:04 GMT
Brian Glanville on Capello and England players (Not Beckham specific article)
Brian Glanville/World SoccerON BORROWED TIME?10/08/10 Let false modesty be cast aside. As certain vultures pick at the corpse of Capello – no, that’s wrong, alas, he’s still in office – I think I can justly say, I told you so. Told you, when all seemed sheer euphoria prior to the World Cup and even the bookmakers, who almost always know best, were giving ridiculously ungenerous odds on England, that it just wouldn’t happen. That Capello was nowhere near to getting things right, that he still, after all that time, hadn’t resolved the Gerrard-Lampard dualism in central midfield, still seemed to have a blinkered belief in Emile Heskey. Though, in his defence, it should be emphasised that it was and is hardly his fault that the overpaid ranks of English footballers haven’t produced a true playmaker since the salad days of Paul Gascoigne. But what chance there was of Joe Cole doing the job, Capello cast away. Moving to Liverpool from Chelsea, and his lukewarm relationship with Carlo Ancelotti has probably given Cole a new lease of life. And it amazed me not just that Capello excluded him from the squad to face Hungary in that meaningless international. What also baffled me was that his omission, when several other players of far less ability were picked, provoked little or no media surprise. It was not, one should emphasise, Capello’s fault that Rooney, who should have been his and England’s trump card, played like a drain in South Africa and can never again justly aspire to the status of a great player. To see him so active, effective and incisive in the Charity Shield, sorry Community Shield, at Wembley evoked a mixture of admiration and mild nausea. If he could do all that at Wembley, why could he do so pitifully little in South Africa? So there, in the World Cup, was Capello without a playmaker and virtually without Rooney, not to mention Rio Ferdinand. It still surprises me that he made no use at all of Michael Dawson, brought in almost reluctantly, at the last moment, when Ferdinand hurt himself in training. Dawson is quick, alert and had a very good latter season for Spurs. Nor has he the knee problems which, alas, affect his club mate, Ledley King. But Capello should have seen that Gareth Barry was seriously off the pace, and to throw James Milner on the field against the USA when he was so obviously ill was nothing short of perverse. The fact is that for all his colossally exaggerated £6 million a year, which seems the only thing to have saved him from dismissal, Capello simply hasn’t made what was, for him, a double transition. From club manager, however successful, to international manager, and from Italy to England. The very evidence of which is his inability to master the English language. Put to shame by his compatriot, Carlos Ancelotti, who, at Chelsea, has done twice as well in half the time. Capello’s attempt to exculpate himself from World Cup criticism has only made things worse for him. The players were tired? Any more tired that most English World Cup teams, after so taxing a League season, though not as numerically demanding as the Bundesliga? It didn’t stop England from all but winning their 1990 World Cup semi final against Germany, nor from making progress in the European Championship finals in Portugal in 2004, when they would surely have beaten the Portuguese in ordinary time, had Wayne Rooney – splendid in that tournament – not been kicked out of the game, early on. Meanwhile, Trevor Brooking, once such a splendid England and West Ham playmaker, is almost the voice of doom when – largely echoing the criticisms of Franz Beckenbauer – he opined that it will take years of earlier, better coaching (and who is going to provide it; great coaches are still a rarity) before England can match the rest of the world for skill. I’m irresistibly reminded of what Glenn Hoddle, that resilient technician, once told me; that by the time he was 11, he’d taught himself every trick but one in his repertoire. Yet Ron Greenwood, father of the West Ham academy of skills, dropped Brooking from his first England team and dropped Hoddle after a glorious Wembley debut against Bulgaria, saying “disappointment is part of football.” The battle for the soul of English football, the long ball or the skilled approach, is all but historic. Remember how it was almost won by the crude direct route when Long Ball Charlie Hughes was poisonously in charge of FA coaching? I don’t believe that trying to coach our 5-year-olds is the answer.
Martin O’Neill’s abrupt departure from Villa simply and sadly emphasises the fact that our football has been distorted and subverted by sheikhs and oligarchs; by Chelsea and now, in spades by Manchester City. Randy Lerner, Villa’s owner, spent a whopping £188 million, trying to get success for the club. Chicken feed, no doubt, for the sheikh and the oligarch. Year after year under Martin an outstanding manager and a clever fellow, Villa were posting massive losses. It couldn’t go on and hasn’t. How sad for English football, and what it’s become. www.worldsoccer.com/glanville/index.php
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Post by cpr on Aug 14, 2010 8:30:17 GMT
Much ado about nothing. Capello never said his career was over or that he'd never play for England again, bloody journalists stirring again, as usual.
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obk
Dave Sexton
Posts: 1,516
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Post by obk on Aug 14, 2010 9:31:05 GMT
But are they better than Fitz hall? No, no! Never that, he is impossible to beat. It is not his fault that Port Vale has world class attackers. |
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Post by samp99 on Aug 14, 2010 10:09:52 GMT
Much ado about nothing. Capello never said his career was over or that he'd never play for England again, bloody journalists stirring again, as usual. And all this rubbish about Beckham coming out saying he hasn't retired and Capello should know that. Well congrats David, but he's not picking you because he doesn't want to. And I think he's right not to. Anyone that saw Walcott, Johnson, Milner the other night should agree. Not to mention Joe Cole, Lennon, Wright-Philips and Ephraim ;D |
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Post by Lonegunmen on Aug 14, 2010 11:45:34 GMT
And Fitz Hll should also get a call up! He is better than John Terry - even against the likes of Port Vale.
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Post by cpr on Aug 14, 2010 12:23:47 GMT
Much ado about nothing. Capello never said his career was over or that he'd never play for England again, bloody journalists stirring again, as usual. And all this rubbish about Beckham coming out saying he hasn't retired and Capello should know that. Well congrats David, but he's not picking you because he doesn't want to. And I think he's right not to. Anyone that saw Walcott, Johnson, Milner the other night should agree. Not to mention Joe Cole, Lennon, Wright-Philips and Ephraim ;D Quite sam but the problem is that Lennon SWP even Milner failed to do the biz, Walcott's best was against Croatia where he virtually played as a forward. Cole doesn't play in that position and Johnson, a left footer, playing there is OK but not good enough yet at international level, should be on the left anyway. For me you select players on ability, not age or reputation. So, on balance, it simply has to be Ephraim ;D |
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