As if one needed any further explanation, former England coach Fabio Capello went on an Italian talk show and addressed his recent departure from the coaching position at the national club.
Speaking on a Striscia la Notizia, a talk show due to be aired Friday night, Capello said it was simply time to leave.
From the Agence France-Presse story:
“I didn’t flee, I left because there was a misunderstanding,” he told Striscia la Notizia.
“I felt great but sometimes you decide to leave.”
Capello quit his coaching role after England’s Football Association decided to strip Chelsea defender John Terry of his captaincy on the national team after allegedly making a racially-charged remark at Queen’s Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand. In video circulated around the internet, he is alleged to have called him a “black c***.”
Terry is now facing charges of racial abuse in the U.K. for the alleged remark but his trial isn’t expected to go forward until after the Euro 2012 tournament, which completes in July.
Capello earlier went on Italian TV to proclaim that it was “absolutely” the wrong decision to strip Terry of the captaincy over allegations that have not yet been proven in court.
This is actually the second time that John Terry has been stripped of the England captaincy. He earlier lost the position in 2010 when it was revealed that he’d had an affair with the wife of Wayne Bridge, a former Chelsea and England teammate. The England captaincy then went to Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, Anton’s brother, and Terry was re-named captain in 2011.
Meanwhile, soccer legend and Al-Wasl coach Diego Maradona told the U.K.’s Telegraph newspaper that stripping John Terry of the captaincy was all a ploy to get Fabio Capello to quit as coach of the national team.
From the Telegraph:
“As far as the situation with Capello is concerned, what we heard initially was about Terry,” said Maradona.
“This is what the English FA was saying. But of course, this is not the real reason. It is clear the FA was looking to fire him. They wanted an excuse to do that.
“They weren’t happy with his performance. Any coach who doesn’t perform at the level expected, especially at the World Cup, is one whom they immediately look to replace.”
Capello, the England coach since 2007, guided the team through a terrible run in the World Cup, losing 4-1 to Germany after middling play in the group stage.
He has been replaced on an interim basis by Stuart Pearce, the coach of the British Under-21 squad and the Olympic squad. Speculation exists that he could be replaced by Tottenham Hotspurs manager Harry Redknapp, who just this week was acquitted of tax evasion charges.
