Despite all the problems, it's best Fabio Capello stays put

Although the 64-year-old agreed an amended contract just before the tournament — after nicely-timed and not unleveraged interest from Inter Milan — it merely removed a two-week window allowing either party to walk away at the mid-point of his four-year deal.

Any manager who has endured the criticism and challenge to his authority as Capello has this month will have his performance examined and analysed by Football Association executives and scribes alike.

Of course, the level of clamour for his departure will ultimately be determined by England's progress but the manner of their malaise in South Africa raises valid queries over the Italian's suitability to lead the team into Euro 2012.

There will be fears over his ability to command the dressing room after the infighting that has ravaged team morale over the past two weeks. The simple fact here is Capello will have learned more about these players during two weeks in Rustenburg than any amount of brief mid-season get-togethers.

Those Capello feels are corrosive elements can be jettisoned as the cycle of qualification and tournament begins again with a warm-up friendly against Hungary on 11 August. This group of players are the product of the ego-inflating Premier League and where Sven-Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren tried to placate and befriend them, Capello adopted the role of school headmaster. At what point do we accept the common denominator amid all this indiscipline is the players?

England's squad are the oldest they have ever taken to a World Cup and thus in need of regeneration. Capello is the ideal man to inspire confidence in younger players ready to step up in grade, with a record that remains among the best in the game at club level.

However, international management is a different animal and prominent among the recent denigration of Capello's acumen is his decision making.

There is little doubt he has made mistakes here — starting Robert Green and an unfit James Milner among them. And it is all well and good naming teams two hours before kick-off at club level but given the meticulous preparation expected before internationals, it is surely fair to assume players need time to adjust.

But Capello is nothing if not studious. No manager achieves the level of success he has without a willingness to adapt, so why not afford him the time to learn from his mistakes?

Changing managers with haste has never proven the most effective antidote to failure and almost any potential replacement brings with him a set of qualities that would make Capello inferior by comparison. Inextricably linked to this is his proclivity, at least in this tournament, to leave substitutions too late. Bringing on Shaun Wright-Phillips for Aaron Lennon — after 63 minutes — against Algeria was a like-for-like replacement that changed nothing in approach, while Peter Crouch was given less than 10 minutes to make an impact.

A rigid adherence to footballing philosophy has been the cornerstone of success and in difficult times it is tempting to hold an even firmer belief in what got you where you are — Arsene Wenger at Arsenal is an equivocal example.

Such dogma is admirable yet frustrating if it borders on myopia and Capello must learn quickly from his apparent shortcomings.

Quitting seems unlikely as it is not in his DNA. Capello fought off stern criticism in his time at Real Madrid and he came back and won the league.

And if England were to win the World Cup, Capello could feel he had proved his point amid the petty squabbling that has threatened to undermine him.

He would depart a hero. Yet such a scenario seems unlikely. And the FA would be unwilling to admit another failure and resultant pay-off. Capello may well be here to stay in any event.