Fabio Capello puts down his cup of espresso, leans back on the sofa and laughs. The previous foreign manager of England has just been asked if he has a message for the current one.
‘Good luck!’ replies the chortling Capello. He stops short of adding, “You’re going to need it”, but he does not need to say any more. His giggle has given the game away.
‘It is not easy, for sure,’ adds the Italian, sitting with Mail Sport in the historic Palace hotel in Madrid. ‘As an England manager, if you are English, it is easier, because one or two people think, “Why did we choose a foreign manager?”.
‘But that is for the president of the FA. They choose the manager. If they decided this, they think it is the best way. No one arrives with a gun to their head saying, “You have to choose this”. They decided, from around the world, “What is the best for us in this moment? This manager is the best”.
‘There was Sven, then Fabio and now a German. So you try different mentalities and different styles!’
Different working arrangements, it seems, too.
Fabio Capello sits down with Mail Sport’s David Coverdale at the Laureus World Sports Awards
Now aged 78, his appearance has barely altered since his days wearing the Three Lions blazer
Capello says he would not have dreamt of missing matches by returning to Italy during his time as England manager from 2008 to 2012
Tuchel is currently preparing for his second match as England boss, against Lativa on Monday, following Friday’s 2-0 win over Albania. But his commitment to his position had come under question even before his first camp in charge.
Firstly, because he did not start his job until January even though he was appointed last October. Then, more damningly, because he failed to attend Premier League games on three of his first six weekends in the role due to him travelling back to Germany to see his family.
As is their wont, the FA have staunchly defended Tuchel’s visits to his homeland, insisting that he is living in London and based at St George’s Park. Capello, however, says he would not have dreamt of missing matches by returning to Italy during his time as England manager from 2008 to 2012.
‘You have to go and check the players every game,’ he says. ‘Not on TV. Live. On TV, you can see one part of the pitch. But when you go to the match, you can see every moment. The ball is one part, but tactics, positions, everything. You have to see that. I went every Saturday, every Sunday. I saw a lot, a lot, a lot of the games.
‘You have to live in England, absolutely. You have to live the culture, everything. I went to the office, to Wembley, every day, with Franco Baldini. Only the day after the games, Monday, did I stay at home.’
Capello admits that he does not know Tuchel personally, nor has he been contacted by him since his England appointment. He did, though, rip into Tuchel’s management as recently as last year.
In his role as a Sky Sport Italia pundit, Capello accused the then-Bayern Munich boss of doing ‘everything wrong’ and making ‘incredible mistakes’ with his substitutions in a Champions League semi-final defeat by Real Madrid.
Asked about those comments now, Capello doubles down and says: ‘The manager decides during the game the substitutions. Sometimes good ideas, sometimes bad ideas. Bad choices. This is a problem.’
Capello is warmer than his reputation would have you believe, and lives a quieter life now
His tongue remains as sharp as ever and he is a renowned stickler for punctuality
Capello retains his affinity for art – having once had a collection worth a reported £10million
Clearly, Capello’s tongue remains as sharp as ever. Now aged 78, his appearance has also barely altered since his days wearing the Three Lions blazer. Nor have his standards slipped.
A renowned stickler for punctuality, the former AC Milan, Roma, Juventus and Real Madrid manager arrives for our interview at nine o’clock on the dot, joking that it is just as well we are shaking hands before the chat, in case we fall out during it.
Capello, though, is warmer than his reputation would have you believe. He explains how he lives a quieter life these days, splitting his time between his homes in Milan and Lugano, Switzerland. Art remains his big passion outside of football.
‘Yes, always, I like every kind of art, from the oldest to the contemporary,’ says the man who was once said to have a private collection worth £10million.
Capello is here in Madrid in his role as a Laureus ambassador to announce the nominees for this year’s World Sports Awards. Euro 2024 champions Spain are among the contenders to be crowned Team of the Year at the ceremony on April 21.
Capello saw Spain lift that trophy in Berlin last summer after their 2-1 win over England. He was also at Wembley three years earlier when his native Italy beat the Three Lions on penalties in the Euro 2020 final.
In Capello’s only tournament in charge of England, the 2010 World Cup, they crashed out in the last 16 to Germany. So how did he rate the work of Gareth Southgate? ‘He did a really good job,’ admits Capello. ‘It’s not easy to play two finals. But the result is the most important thing.
‘People forget if you make a final. I managed in three Champions League finals and lost two. But I won one. So now it’s, “He won the Champions League”. This is it.’
In Capello’s only tournament in charge of England, the 2010 World Cup, they crashed out in the last 16 to Germany
Most now view the £6million-a-year overseas coach as an expensive failure
Capello thinks he knows why England keep falling at the final hurdle
And Capello thinks he knows why England keep falling at the final hurdle. ‘I saw the final against Italy and the final against Spain and always the same – they play with fear,’ he says. ‘No confidence, no bravery. Like a monkey on the back. Too many years without a trophy.
‘I remember the game against Italy. After 20 minutes, when they were winning 1-0, they started to waste time. Not running to take the free-kick, really, really slow with throw-ins, long balls from the keeper. It was the same against Spain. They did not play like they did in the games before. It’s fear, fear, fear.’
It is similarly scathing assessment to the one delivered by Tuchel on Thursday, when he claimed Southgate’s side were ‘more afraid to drop out’ of Euro 2024 than ‘having the hunger to win it’. How, then, can Tuchel change that mindset?
‘Get the monkey off the back!’ answers Capello, laughing again. ‘When they play, normally they can beat everyone. But when they arrive closer to the final, the monkey becomes the biggest.
‘Southgate’s team had a really good spirit. This is important to find. Find the team spirit and find the players at the top of their game. Because you have no time at training. It’s a very different job.
‘They have good players, but I think it is possible to improve. Jude Bellingham is a really important player. He makes the difference.
‘But one really important part you have to improve is the defenders. I don’t know if England can find someone young. I saw a lot of players but at centre back, they have not a lot of English players. And the keeper is a normal keeper.’
It is safe to assume ‘normal’ means ‘ordinary’ when it comes to Capello’s verdict on Jordan Pickford. The general verdict on Capello’s time as England manager, though, is even less complimentary, with most now viewing the £6million-a-year overseas coach as an expensive failure.
Among the criticisms of his reign was his disciplinarian approach, which saw him ban butter and ketchup and mobile phones at team meals.
His strict regime was much debated at the World Cup, when players complained of being bored at their base in the remote South African city of Rustenburg
Capello still believes the 2010 World Cup would have panned out differently if Frank Lampard’s shot that crossed the line was awarded as a goal in England’s eventual 4-1 defeat by Germany
Capello came under fire for his outside business interests, notably the Capello Index
His strict regime was much debated at the World Cup, when players complained of being bored at their base in the remote South African city of Rustenburg, en route to scraping through one of the easier groups in recent memory against the USA, Algeria and Slovenia.
Separately, Capello came under fire for his outside business interests, notably the Capello Index, a controversial player ratings website launched on the eve of him naming his World Cup squad.
So, would he have done anything differently if he was to have his time with England again? After a long pause, Capello emphatically replies: ‘To prepare the games? No. The sporting part? No. The life? No. Nothing.’
Instead, Capello still believes that the World Cup would have panned out differently had Frank Lampard’s shot that crossed the line been awarded as a goal in England’s eventual 4-1 defeat by Germany.
‘Luck is really important,’ he says. ‘The Lampard goal would have made it 2-2. It was a really important moment.’
One of Capello’s biggest problems was his poor command of English, which is little better now. He is just about able to get through this interview. ‘It’s been 10 years without English, I have to practise!’
If Capello was mocked by the media for his grasp of the language, though, he holds no grudge. ‘I didn’t have problems with the journalists or with the TV because I was correct and straight,’ he says. ‘Always correct and straight. I said what was on my mind, without dribbling!’
In any case, Capello could not have blamed the press for how his England tenure came to an end. He resigned in February 2012 after falling out with the FA over their decision to take the captaincy off John Terry, who had been accused of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand.
He resigned in February 2012 after falling out with the FA over their decision to take the captaincy off John Terry
Capello still calls his former England goalkeeper ‘Calamity’ James
Capello is still a hero in Milan, where he led his side to four league titles in five years and the 1994 Champions League
Terry, it is no surprise to learn, is one of the few England players Capello has kept in touch with. ‘Yes, we stay connected,’ says Capello. ‘I met some players around the world at times. David Beckham, I saw the last time two or three years ago. Rio Ferdinand I met. And Calamity James!’
Capello, it seems, is oblivious to the furore he caused five years ago when he last referred to goalkeeper David James by that disparaging nickname – Joe Cole, for one, was less than impressed.
He is, though, very much up to speed on the Premier League, singling out Arne Slot for praise as the Dutchman closes in on the title in his first season in charge of Liverpool.
‘To do this after Jurgen Klopp, who I liked, is incredible,’ says Capello. ‘It’s a bit like my career. I arrived at AC Milan after Arrigo Sacchi and everyone said the team is finished, that they don’t like to work any more, they had won too many trophies. I think it’s more or less the same.’
Capello sees no need to spell out that he won Serie A in his first season after replacing Sacchi at the San Siro, the first of four league titles in five years.
But he again mentions his former club – who are currently languishing in ninth place in Serie A – when talk turns to the Premier League’s fallen giants, Manchester United.
‘Ooof,’ he says, grimacing. ‘It’s like Milan or worse than this. They have done the same. Spent a lot of money, changed the manager during the season.
‘I think the players don’t understand the values necessary to play for United. The same thing at Milan. This is very important. When players come, they have to understand they play for the shirt.’
Capello sees parallels between the fall of Manchester United and his own club, AC Milan
Fellow former AC Milan boss Carlo Ancelotti is the best manager in the world, Capello insists
Capello does not hold back on any subject, and is as forthright as ever
Capello chooses not to divulge his thoughts on United’s struggling new boss Ruben Amorim. But he could not be clearer when it comes to which current manager he most admires.
‘Carlo,’ he answers instantly. ‘Carlo Ancelotti is the best manager in the world. Wherever he has managed, they have won.
‘I like him because he can play different styles with different players. He is really intelligent. It’s not, “This style is my style and that’s it”. He makes wine with different grapes.’
Turning water into wine is the task for Tuchel, as far as Capello is concerned.
