Two minute warning! Fergie warns Capello: You'll quickly find out how difficult England job is

Capello's appointment as Steve McClaren's successor is expected to be confirmed by the Football Association in the next 24 hours.

With nine league titles on his impressive CV and a coaching career encompassing spells with Juventus, AC Milan and Real Madrid, few believe FA chief executive Brian Barwick could have got anyone better.

Even though there have been some dissenting voices - notably Tony Adams and Steve Coppell - over the appointment of a non-Englishman, Ferguson has already given his backing to the 61-year-old.

That is an age the Manchester United manager believes is ideally suited to the stresses and strains of the international arena.

But Ferguson also recognises the intense pressure which comes with leading the England side and does not believe it will be long before Capello realises it too.

"There is a tremendous pressure on the English coach, which Fabio will understand when he is two minutes into the job," said Ferguson.

"It is not going to be an easy job. There is a lot of work to do with the England team to get them to the level everyone expects, so I hope he will get the support he needs.

"But what Fabio has got is experience. I have spoken for a long time about the necessity of a national team manager to be experienced and to have a good CV and a presence and be the right age. Fabio Capello has all those things.

"He will definitely command the respect of the players."

One of the concerns about Capello's impending appointment has been a perceived inability to speak English.

Yesterday, Rafael Benitez spoke of the difficulty he had in overcoming the language barrier following his arrival at Liverpool - a problem that would only be magnified in a dressing room full of English-speaking players, a rarity now at club level.

Yet Ferguson has encountered Capello at enough events to know the former Italy player has actually quite a decent command of English and can certainly communicate well enough not to have any trouble getting his point across.

"Fabio's English is okay," said the Scot.

"I have never had any problem speaking to him.

"I was reading about the problem with the language Rafael Benitez had when he came to Liverpool.

"But maybe Rafa couldn't speak English, whereas Fabio can. That is a big advantage to him."