Tom Lappin's Sporting Week: Stubborn Capello Just Might Be Possessed by Spirit of Sir Alf

Summary

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THE beginning of the end for an England manager occurs when comparisons with their predecessors become irresistible. Steve McClaren's demise was inevitable once it became clear that he was the second coming of Graham Taylor, without Taylor's charm and tactical articulacy, but with better teeth.

It might be too early to throw such invidious comparisons at Fabio Capello, but what the hell, the England manager is already sounding like late period Alf Ramsey. What did for Ramsey in the end was his loyalty to past-their-best senior players, and an instinctive mistrust of anything that vaguely resembled flair or flashiness. It didn't help that a goal from a feisty Italian midfielder called Fabio Capello made Ramsey's last match in charge at Wembley a 1-0 defeat.

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Extract

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Tom Lappin's Sporting Week: Stubborn Capello Just Might Be Possessed by Spirit of Sir Alf

It would be a revenge that appealed to Ramsey's mordant sense of humour for the spectre of Sir Alf to possess the present England manager, and whisper such Ramseyesque observations as 'Tch, ...

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