Capello shrugs off Ramsey comparisons

Fabio Capello insisted on Saturday that he does not yet deserve to be compared to Sir Alf Ramsey, the man he hopes to emulate by transforming England into world-beaters.

Ramsey coached England to their only World Cup success back in 1966 but Capello's impressive first year in charge of the national squad already has many observers tipping the Italian's team as champions in South Africa in 2010.

But Capello says there is plenty of work ahead if the England of Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Theo Walcott and Wayne Rooney are to be kings of the world.

“Someone spoke to me about this big manager (Ramsey) but we have to wait. He's up here – I'm still down here,” said Capello.

“It's a very long way to arrive at the level of Sir Alf Ramsey – it is difficult and very, very long.”

Capello has overseen a dramatic improvement in the national team's fortunes in 2008.

After the low of failing to qualify for Euro 2008 under Steve McClaren, England have reached the end of the year on course for the World Cup finals boasting a perfect record in the qualifiers.

For good measure, they ended 2008 with a 2-1 friendly win over Germany in Berlin with their only loss in the year coming against France.

“It's been step forward, step forward,” Capello said.

“I'm very happy because the last game against Germany we played very well. The first 11 was new players, some players who hadn't played a lot of games, and we won and this is very important for the future.

“We had another (stepping) stone for the future.”

Capello added that, unlike McClaren, he was determined to maintain barriers between himself and his players.

“It's not important to play cards or games with the players. It's not important to me to be one of the lads,” said the Italian.

“The important thing is respect. I always say a manager is one against 24 always – there is one boss, one leader being judged by 24 players, in every moment he is under scrutiny and it's important the players know that is my role. The leader is the leader.”