MANAGERIAL NEWS:THE ENGLISH Football Association's decision to retain Fabio Capello as England's manager was based purely on footballing reasons rather than financial pressures, with the Italian now vowing to inject new blood into his side ahead of the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign.

The FA issued a statement yesterday confirming the 64-year-old will see out the remaining two seasons of his £6 million-a-year (€7.2 million) contract after the four-man Club England board had filed their recommendation.

Capello, who is currently on holiday with his wife, Laura, was subsequently informed of the decision that he was to be retained in a phone call from the offshoot body’s chairman, Dave Richards.

The FA’s acting chairman, Roger Burden, had made it clear to the Club England board – made up of Richards, the managing director, Adrian Bevington, Trevor Brooking and the FA’s general secretary, Alex Horne – that a decision should be made regardless of the hefty compensation that would have been due had the Italian’s contract been terminated.

The figure that would have been payable to the manager is understood to have been about £6 million and did not vary dramatically from the sum that would have been due had a break clause not been scrapped just prior to the tournament in South Africa.

Richards had initially indicated there would be a cooling-off period of two weeks following the 4-1 defeat by Germany, though Horne moved to speed up the process, conscious of the indignity in effectively leaving Capello dangling. The FA has since been at pains to stress to the Italian that there will be no interference in team affairs, even if some evidence of improvement will be required if he is truly to recover the reputation tarnished by his team’s World Cup failure.

Capello has already indicated he will seek to refresh an ageing squad, with the campaign to reach the finals in Ukraine and Poland to begin in earnest in September.

“I am more determined than ever to succeed with the England team,” he said.

“Sir Dave Richards has called me to tell me everyone at the FA wants me to continue. I explained it is very important we use the disappointment as a motivation in the future.

“I can assure the fans I am now fully focused on our European qualifying fixtures. We will look to introduce new players to give the team new energy and I will use all my experience to take England forward.

“I am extremely proud to be the England manager, it means so much to me and I am determined to succeed.”

That could yet see the likes of Manchester City’s Adam Johnson, Aston Villa’s Gabriel Agbonlahor and the Tottenham Hotspur centre-half Michael Dawson, unused in South Africa, being given opportunities to impress.

Capello has also earmarked Kieran Gibbs and Jack Wilshere of Arsenal, and Everton’s Jack Rodwell, and will continue to monitor their development with a view to involvement in the senior side.

The manager has emphasised during his talks with Richards that he retains the desire and enthusiasm to succeed with England despite the alarming nature of much of the side’s stay in South Africa. Those close to him have stressed privately that he is keen on gaining some measure of revenge for the underachievement at the tournament.

That played its part in convincing Richards and his fellow Club England board members of the logic of retaining him, with senior figures within the FA such as David Gill and Phil Gartside having advocated a commonsense approach with no credible alternative to the Italian available, particularly once Roy Hodgson had swapped Fulham for Liverpool.

Capello’s right-hand man, the team’s general manager, Franco Baldini, is also expected to keep his job.

“We are all still extremely disappointed at our performance in South Africa, and we believed it was important that we took some time to reflect on everything,” said Richards. “After fully discussing our performance we remain convinced that Fabio is the best man for the job.

“We are confident Fabio will benefit from his first international tournament experience and this will undoubtedly make us all stronger for the Euro 2012 campaign.”

Guardian Service