Fabio's the man to take us forward if we all get off his back

Now he hasn't picked him, they have a go at him for cruelty to an almost dumb animal by depriving Beckham of his 100th cap.

But what else did they or Beckham expect? The moment Beckham sold himself to the Yanks, he should have known it was all over.

But that's not really my point. My point is that we scribblers should get off his back. As Abraham Lincoln said at the height of the Civil War, when things were going badly for the Union side: "The trouble is all the best Generals are writing for the papers." The same is true of all those World Cup-winning England coaches who will be on the Press benches tonight.

Capello has eight months to create a team capable of punching their weight in the World Cup. If he chooses to bury Beckham in a huge hole on the Copacabana, or make Steven Gerrard clean the boots, that's a matter for him.

After all, he is being paid enough, so why not let him do his job, and judge him on his results in the World Cup qualifiers, not now.

Which is why I have given my Wembley tickets away, and this evening I'll be watching a spot of Gilbert & Sullivan.

Anyway, Capello's management methods are not a quick fix. He is a martinet, one of life's sergeant majors. With most Spain must successful people, all this stuff about sitting down for meals at the same time would be counterproductive. But footballers are not normal people.

And on the basis the devil makes work for idle hands, a lot of them dissipate their money and their energies in pursuits alien to professional athletes, which ends up costing them whatever limited resources of self-discipline they ever possessed.

Instant gratification of every impulse is the watchword of these spoilt young men, and it's that indiscipline that has cost England dear in recent times. The players just don't want it enough to work hard enough to get it.

Answer — bring in Capello. By knocking them back into shape, and re-establishing some fundamental disciplines, or maybe we should simply call it good manners, he hopes to create a team ethic that might deliver success.

So come on boys, just let him get on with it.