Capello erring on the side of caution

RICHARD WILLIAMSsays the England manager, instead of opting for a fresh start, will field the remnants of his Rustenburg rabble for what amounts to a lap of dishonour tonight

A FRESH start would have been nice, and there could have been no better moment. Laurent Blanc knew an opportunity when he saw one, and decided to “suspend” France’s entire World Cup squad for his first match as head coach. Fabio Capello, by contrast, has merely reassembled the remnants of his Rustenburg rabble for what amounts to a lap of dishonour.

Blanc’s action left no one in any doubt that for him this represents the start of a new era in which younger, fresher faces will be given the chance to make an impact.

The French public will not mind if they are beaten by Norway in Oslo tonight as long as the performance shows commitment and promise, just as the 60,000 or so who will turn up at Wembley would not have minded an indifferent result against Hungary if they felt they were being shown some sort of vision of the future.

Capello is certainly giving a good impression of being lost amid the demands of his job.

“I don’t know what we have to do to improve the minds of these players,” he said on Monday. “At this moment, I don’t know.”

Even given the continuing limitation of his poor command of English, this seemed a pitiful admission after more than two years’ close study of the players at his disposal.

To read his projected team sheet for tonight’s match is to feel the spirits slump. Better late than never for Joe Hart and Michael Dawson, who may play most of the match, and there is the promise of a glimpse of Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs.

But the continued presence in the starting line-up of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, John Terry, Gareth Barry and Wayne Rooney, en bloc, shouts the message that there will be no cleansing of the Augean stables before the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign starts in September.

We might have guessed as much from Capello’s widely criticised decision not to attend the European Under-19 Championship last month, in which England, under Noel Blake, reached the semi-finals before being eliminated by Spain.

He had spoken to Trevor Brooking and Stuart Pearce, he said, and they had assured him that none of the group was ready for promotion to the senior squad.

But it should not have been too much trouble for the €7.2 million -a-year man to curtail his family holiday in order to cast an eye over the youngsters, such as Nathan Delfouneso and John Bostock. He might even have enjoyed it, or at least found it interesting.

Public relations alone would have made the trip worthwhile. But Capello does not do public relations. Or at least not until the past few weeks, when he could hardly avoid the need to say sorry for what went on in South Africa under his command.

His lack of practice in the arts of apology and atonement is all too evident as he gropes for the words in which to express an emotion he probably does not really feel.

Deep down, Capello blames the players. That much is clear. So perhaps his decision to recall almost all of those responsible for the World Cup debacle for tonight’s match is actually a gesture of ritual sacrifice before the genuine renewal can begin. Or maybe he just can’t think of a better plan.

The cupboard is by no means bare. England’s unwillingness to devote resources to training young coaches is an enduring disgrace, and the proportion of players in the Premier League eligible for selection by Capello – around 38 per cent – is unquestionably a handicap, but somehow the talent continues to emerge, however unfinished it may be.

At least the under-19s reached their semi-final and were beaten by Spain. Pearce’s under-21s reached their European final last year before being soundly beaten by Germany, several of that team went on to reach the last four in South Africa last month.

We know the last crop of under-17s were outstanding, since they won their European Championship earlier this year, while the new intake, now in the care of Kenny Swain, have just won the annual Nordic tournament in Finland.

It is what happens to the players after they emerge into the senior ranks that presents Capello with his greatest problem. The exaggerated sense of self-importance instilled by vast salaries and a retinue of sycophants can distort values and behaviour in ways that are hard to eradicate.

Those recent pictures of Rooney smoking a cigarette and urinating in the street remind us, with a shudder, that only a few weeks ago he was being talked about as a plausible candidate for the England captaincy.

The Italian is powerless to influence what goes on at the clubs, but surely one way of creating a significant degree of control and loyalty would be to identify a group of mostly young players whom he can mould into the sort of team he wants to lead.

He would not be the first international coach to discover that such a policy entails the controversial step of excluding established favourites in favour of players who can do the sort of job that needs to be done.

Alf Ramsey grasped that nettle when he made Nobby Stiles a vital component of his World Cup-winning team.

Capello, however, has shown no appetite for making unorthodox choices based on his own perception and judgment rather than on reputations already established.

When he backed Sven-Goran Eriksson’s initial hunch by calling up Theo Walcott he reaped the reward in Zagreb, but then, at the crucial hour, allowed his faith to become eroded.

Now, as he delivers apologies that appear to have been scripted by his employers and picks a couple of young players seemingly to mollify his critics, faith in him has vanished.

Even a respectable qualification for the next big tournament will not fully repair the damage. After all, look what happened last time.