The official appoitment of Fabio Capello as England manager is making a lot of ink flow in the British press these days (especially the official “unveiling” & associated press conference, held yesterday Monday), but nothing compared to the astronomical contract the Italian coach has signed with the English FA (over £4.8m i.e. €6.7m, plus an additional bonus in case of World Cup victory). The Daily Mirror‘s printed version headline (“CAPE££O”) is quite explicit in the matter, and makes a strong suggestion along the lines “we paid you a sh**load of money, now get us a World Cup”.
During an interview with the RAI Italian TV station, Capello declared that the England job would be the last of his managerial career. “It would be really nice to finish with a World cup win. (…) I’m be expecting a much more complicated job than if I were managing a club team, and I know there’s a lot of expectations from this appointment, but I think that my team and I will achieve great objectives together“.
According to The Independent, those objectives might be extended for an extra 2 years (to include leading England to Euro 2012), even though Capello and the FA have agreed to a re-discussion of the Italian coach’s contract terms at the end of 2010. Indeed, in case of an England failure at the South Africa World Cup, this “escape clause” would permit the FA to avoid a major cash leak (to avoid paying Capello until his contract runs out, or handing him an Eriksson-style termination compensation). Should Capello and his staff succeed in the task of winning BOTH the next World Cup and European championships however, they would cash in a total of over £30m (i.e. €42m). A record-breaking amount if that were to happen, which would make Capello the most paid manager in football history.
Joining the Daily Mirror‘s tirade against Capello’s salary, The Times also points the finger at how much the English FA will be paying the ex-Real Madrid coach & Co. Speaking of the “& Co.” part, the fact that Capello’s staff is (for the moment) exclusively composed of Italians is another thing the British papers raise a few eyebrows on. The Times is hoping that, in addition to Galbiati, Neri, Baldini and Tancredi, common household names such as Stuart Pearce (current Under-21 manager) or Alan Shearer (or perhaps even Tony Adams and David Platt, as suggested by the Daily Telegraph) could complete the Don’s staff.
On that last eventuality far less optimistic is The Sun, which a few days ago titled “Fab..1 FA..0“. The well-known English tabloid maintains the idea that, on top of getting what he wanted in economical terms, Capello also managed to impose his fully Italian technical staff, excluding the possibility of “made in England” elements within the Three Lions (apart from the players themselves, obviously).
Something to keep an eye on over the next few days…
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