Capello gets it wrong again as Beckham hears of retirement on the radio

There have been many things said and written about Fabio Capello over the past few months and very little of it has been complimentary. I’m afraid I am not going to buck that trend here!

Divided

People are totally divided in their opinion of David Beckham. I hope, however, that we can all agree that he is a fiercely patriotic man who is incredibly proud of representing his country.

At thirty-five and having missed the recent World Cup with injury it is clearly very possible that he will not feature again for England. Despite that he has made it very clear that he hasn’t retired from international football and will be fighting to impress Capello and get back into the side. Just recently he told the BBC,

“I’m not ready to step aside. If I don’t get picked for England again then I’m very proud of my record, one hundred starts and one hundred and fifteen games. I’m very proud of that but I still believe I have a part to play. I take each day, week, month and year as it comes. Like I say, I never want to step down from playing for my country.”

Famous

Beckham has one hundred and fifteen England caps and is, rightly or wrongly, the most famous player ever to have played for England.

It is against that background that I was amazed to read the details of interview given by Capello on BBC Radio 5 after the friendly victory over Hungary on Wednesday.

Plans

Capello was asked if Beckham featured in his future plans.

“No, I need to change it. David is a fantastic player but I think we need new players for the future. If he is fit, I hope we will play one more game here at Wembley so the fans can say goodbye.”

After these comments were made public David Beckham’s agent released the following short statement.

“For your information, there has been no discussion of retirement. He will always be available for his country, when fit and if needed he will be there.”

Criticism

There has been much criticism of the man management skills of Capello and I find the fact that David Beckham has found out that his international career has come to an end via a radio interview absolutely astonishing.

It is beyond belief that any England manager wouldn’t be bothered to pick up the phone to telephone the most capped outfield player in the history of the country’s football to give him this news personally.

Mind you, Paul Scholes was phoned a couple of days before the World Cup squad was announced asking him to come out of retirement and it turns out that the call was made by Capello’s assistant not by him personally. Scholes has said that he was a little offended by that.

Determined

Current England captain Steve Gerrard was asked about the comments and feels that Beckham will be even more determined to come back.

“I’m sure that if he hears that news, it will drive him on and he’ll try to prove people wrong and try to get back in the set-up because I know he loves playing for England. He’s put a long shift in as an England player. He’s had some fantastic performances, some fantastic goals, memories. I’ve learnt a lot from David and it’s been a pleasure to play alongside him.”

I have no doubt that Beckham will once again be determined to prove Capello wrong. The problem is that Capello has made up his mind. It is just that he seems to have forgotten to tell him.