It’s hard to feel any sympathy for someone who trousers a whopping wage of £6million a year.
But I wouldn’t want to be in Fabio Capello’s Gucci loafers right now.
Just when the England boss – and his employers – can see the finish line in sight to his troubled reign, another impregnable hurdle is looming.
A dressing-room civil war between John Terry and Wayne Bridge in the build-up to the 2010 World Cup set the tone for a terrible tournament.
At least partial redemption beckoned this summer when England booked their place in the Euro finals. That was until the Terry and Anton Ferdinand incident.
The Football Association have launched their investigation into what might or might not have been said during the Chelsea versus QPR game.
At this stage, it would be wrong to speculate on the outcome. Unless you were right there in the heat of the moment, it is impossible to pre-judge on the dubious evidence of blanked out TV pictures and a selective clip on YouTube.
But whatever pans out, last Sunday’s episode could spell massive problems for Capello.
When Bridge walked away from the national team, it was a hindrance for his boss but nothing more. He was the back-up left back, hardly one of the key members of the squad.
This is totally different. Name the two defensive mainstays of the international team in recent years – Terry and Rio Ferdinand.
Fitness allowing, their names go straight on Fabio’s team sheet every time.
But how can he expect to field them together as a pairing again after the well-publicised events of the past week?
If Terry is found guilty of making racist remarks, then he should be stripped of the captaincy and booted out of the England reckoning straight away.
If it’s decided that he said nothing wrong, then he is fully entitled to carry on leading his country with head held high.
But how would it work with him playing alongside the brother of the man who had made the accusation? How could they possibly push any ill feeling to one side and watch each other’s back for 90 minutes?
Capello can delay the problem when he selects the squad for next month’s friendlies with Spain and Sweden. The coach does not feel Ferdinand is fit enough after his injury lay-off and will look elsewhere.
But the moment will come when he has a very big decision to make. That’s the £6m call.
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