Capello Offered the England Job (Or Not)

As all the other options run screaming in the other direction, the British press are increasingly behind the idea of Fabio Capello as England manager, so much so that they seem willing to overlook his most obvious drawback: He can’t really speak English. Of course, the rumor that Gianfranco Zola would be his primary assistant should Capello get the job probably makes at least many in London so happy they don’t care what language the gaffer speaks, as long as Zola comes back. (One of the best things about Claudio Ranieri’s early months at Chelsea was the press conferences, and how absurdly charming Zola was in his role as translator — imagine how great he would be yelling at Steven Gerrard.)

It’s even been reported in both the Italian and the English media that the FA have already offered Capello the gig, to the tune of €5.5 million/season, allegedly for four years, which would keep him with the team (barring a loss to the wrong team, of course) through World Cup 2010 and into Euro 2012 qualifying. Capello, of course, denies any such thing has happened — in fact, he says he’s not yet even been interviewed. According to Don Capello, he knows — from the papers — that he’s one of the FA’s top choices, but that’s … pretty much it. Jeez, if that’s true, maybe someone from the FA should get on the phone, huh?

Interestingly, Capello’s first choice for the gig is Jose Mourinho, a man he assumed was going to take the job. The Portuguese’s apparent lack of interest (Or, as you might expect, not.) is, according to Capello, down to his youth — “I,” he says “am of a different age.” By which he means “twice as old.”

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Category: Rumors & News, Serie A