Capello criticized for his external business deals
The Football Association (FA) have reminded England Manager Fabio Capello that he needs to keep his mind on the football and when it comes to external sponsorship, or other, deals, the England Coach must get approval from the FA before committing himself to any such things.
Capello has been involved with the controversial ‘Capello Index’ which started as a rating system for player performances during the World Cup. During the promotion for the rating system, it was mentioned that England players will be made aware of their performances on this public forum and after this was made public, there was a lot of criticism directed at the FA for allowing Capello to do so.
The Italian Manager future was put in doubt after a very disappointing performance by England at the World Cup in South Africa, where they were eliminated by the Germans in the first knock out round. Since the exit, the FA have moved to clear up the issue of England management by giving Capello a two year extension until 2012.
It appears that following the contract extension, the FA have set up more strict guidelines relating to external contracts. This has happened due to the fact that initially the Index was removed because it was seen as disruptive to the preparations for the World Cup but as soon as the World Cup finished, the ratings were made public, putting Capello back in the spotlight.
Capello moved quickly to distance himself from the controversy, saying that the Index was published without his knowledge or approval and should be taken down immediately. However, despite his best efforts the index is still online and has, in fact, gained in popularity due to the amount of coverage it has received in the press.
The England manager is said to be considering legal action against the publishers of the index but it is difficult to say whether he will be able to find justifiable grounds to take such a stance, especially since he was involved heavily in the making of the rating system and if he signed a contract permitting the publishers of making the index public then it will be hard for him to get out of it.
Capello has been quick to deflect the criticism directed his way and has said that the team will be changed significantly for the upcoming European qualifiers. The Capello Index was clearly a bad decision on part of the Italian and he should, for once, take responsibility for it instead of trying to claim innocence, when clearly he was at fault.
Pressure has been mentioned as one of the prime reasons behind England’s bad performance at the World Cup and had the Index been published it would have added to that, something which should have been avoided to begin with. The FA have rightfully taken a stance here and should they stick to their statement, such unnecessary distractions can be avoided in the future and England can, perhaps, perform at the level that is expected of them.
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