Another snub for Fabio Capello as Wes Brown announces retirement
Just hours after Paul Robinson called time on his international career, Manchester United defender Wes Brown followed suit, snubbing England manager Fabio Capello ahead of Wednesday’s friendly against Hungary.
Brown stated that he was stepping aside to allow the younger defenders to break through, and that he wanted to concentrate on his club career. The 30-year-old’s international career never truly got going because of competition from his club teammate Gary Neville – he won 23 caps during an 11-year spell, scoring one goal.
But in the aftermath of England’s shambolic World Cup campaign, Brown was handed another chance by Capello to cement a place at right-back.
The full-back’s response may have come as somewhat of a surprise to Capello, who must now rebuild his own reputation ahead of the Euro 2012 qualifiers.
The Italian will be hoping that no other players follow the example of Robinson and Brown before Wednesday evening, as he bids to try out a number of fringe players and youngsters against the Hungarians at Wembley.
Brown informed Capello of his decision after United’s 3-1 Community Shield victory over Chelsea - a match that the England manager attended. It was a day that Capello will want to put firmly behind him; first and foremost for the double retirements, and then for appearing somewhat confused that Michael Carrick was in fact fit for selection, along with Ashley Cole apparently giving him the cold shoulder while collecting his losers’ medal.
Before the 2010 World Cup finals, Capello’s reputation was sky high. England finally had a pragmatic manager capable of bringing football’s most prestigious trophy back to the country for the first time since 1966. A disciplinarian with the ability to keep a group of highly-paid footballers in order.
But, as with every England manager who has also failed at a major tournament, the backlash soon began in earnest following the World Cup. And after keeping hold of the job by the skin of his teeth, Capello now has the task of shaking off his current laughing-stock tag - something which has been the downfall of so many of his predecessors.
After being handed a chance to start from scratch with the England squad, Capello’s decision to include Robinson and Brown in the first place was slightly bemusing. Replacing recent failures with past failures hardly marks the start of a bold new era, particularly when several other young English hopefuls are waiting for their opportunity to impress.
The likes of Jack Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs and Adam Johnson will all be at Wembley on Wednesday evening, but the thought of Capello including these youngsters merely to appease the frustrated England supporters surely wouldn’t have sat well with the manager the FA snapped up back in 2008.
There’s only one way that Capello can answer his critics and rebuild his tarnished reputation – the same way as those England players who performed so abjectly in South Africa – and that’s to start winning matches, while showing visible signs of commitment and improvement.
The task in hand won’t faze the experienced England boss, though. Spells at Real Madrid, Juventus and Roma, where he received criticism from all three sets of supporters before proving them wrong has stood the 64-year-old in good stead.
And he’ll be more determined than ever to reconfirm his status as a world-class manager. Starting, slowly but surely, with victory against Hungary.
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