ENGLAND’S flirtation with an Italian manager came to a rather messy conclusion – and in the end you have to feel it was Fabio Capello who was to blame.

While no-one could have predicted the set of circumstances that led to his resignation, or that the FA would create a position where Capello felt his position was untenable, it was more his approach to being England manager that perhaps brought about his demise before leading the national side to the 2012 European Championships.

His tenure appeared to be taking on a similar pattern to that of Sven Goran-Eriksson in that his sides would qualify for a tournament at a canter but then hit the wall when it came to the actual finals showdown.

However, the big difference between Sven and the former Real Madrid boss was that the Swede not only had a strong command of English, but was quite adept at making sure the right message was coming out of the England camp.

Capello, with his rather clumsy attempts to get a grip on the language, never sounded at home and while he did his damndest to stamp his authority on the role, the simple fact that he could not put this across convincingly in English always seemed to count against him.

Once his go-between Franco Baldini – who really did act as Capello’s eyes, ears and mouth – had decided that his future lay with AS Roma, Don Fabio’s days were definitely numbered and ‘Terrygate’ proved the catalyst.

As an Italian Capello never really understood why the England captaincy was such a big deal.

In Italy the captain is generally the most senior player – hence Dino Zoff collecting the World Cup in Spain in 1982 – and it is not a role given any more importance than the incumbent being able to wear an armband, hand over a pennant and call for a toss of a coin.

But what he also failed to understand was that his struggle to take on board the English mentality was being undermined by some of his fellow countrymen.

The fact that we all know Roberto Mancini, Robert Di Matteo, Paolo Do Canio, Gianluca Vialli and Gianfranco Zola have all managed teams in this country, were able to express themselves perfectly adequately and have got a grasp on what makes English football tick, perhaps exposed Capello as an outsider who was never really going to fit in.

Perhaps because all those five sons of ‘il bel paese’ had experience of playing the game in England, and as a result the atmosphere of an English dressing room, they had more than a head start on Capello.

And perhaps they might all have been better options as the first Italian to be England manager – yes even Paolo!