Fabio Capello WILL Step down after Euro 2012

September 9th, 2010 | by: Rob | View Comments

So the man himself has confirmed it, whatever happens in Poland and the Ukraine, whether England get there or not, whether we win it or go out in the Quarter Finals on penalties, Capello will step down after that tournament has finished, to do his gardening.

“Absolutely. Yes, we have to qualify first of course but after that I will be too old…I want to enjoy my life as a pensioner”

So there we have it. And Capello is perfectly right to say, you know what, I’m too old for this stuff. I do kind of have mixed feelings – not least because he is a World Class Manager (South Africa aside), and the desire to have an English coach replace him didn’t end brilliantly last time around.

But in previous tournaments when a manager has announced he’s leaving the England job when the tournament ends, we have actually done quite well. See Italia 90, when Bobby Robson was being forced out of the job, which was revealed before the tournament – we made the Semi Finals and were a penalty kick away from the Final. Same story in Euro 96, where it was known Terry Venebles would be off at the end of the tournament, again just a penalty shoot out against the Germans between us and the final.

Hopefully whatever it is that makes us rally around when a manager is off, will come to the fore in Polkraine (assuming we make it, although Ethan is on the record as saying we already have) and we can make a run to the semi finals and lose to Germany. That’d be better than South Africa at least.