‘Capello was a high supervisor – however he made England the worst 10 days of your life’
John Terry says Fabio Capello made being away with England “the worst 10 days of your life”.
The Chelsea legend was a mainstay in Capello’s England team, and even sang the Italian’s praises by labelling him “a top manager” with “all the ideas”. But Terry says he found life under the notoriously ruthless Capello very challenging, particularly during the 2010 World Cup.
The Three Lions infamously underperformed at the tournament, limping through their seemingly straightforward group before getting demolished by Germany in the last-16. Though if Terry’s recollection of life in the England camp is to be believed, their dismal campaign should hardy have come as a surprise.
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“Capello was a top manager and had all the ideas, but then found a way to make it the worst 10 days of your life when you went away with England,” Terry said speaking on the Up Front With Simon Jordan podcast, brought to you by William Hill.
“You speak to our generation of players and that’s how they all felt going away with England on these camps, they should be the best moments of your career. As a kid I would’ve said captaining England would be the biggest honour, but now it’d have to be captaining Chelsea, 100 percent.”
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Terry, who was accused of trying to stage a coup during the World Cup when he spoke out against Capello’s rigorous house rules in a ill-thought-out press conference, ended up indirectly costing the square-jawed manager his job in 2012 when he was stripped of the England captaincy by the FA.
It happened after accusations of racism were levelled against Terry by Anton Ferdinand, forcing to Capello to resign in protest as the decision hadn’t been discussed with him beforehand. Terry was subsequently cleared of all charges following a police investigation, but the FA decided to launch a supplementary internal investigation into the matter, prompting Terry to retire from international football – something he now regrets.
“I’ve not got many regrets in football, if any, but retiring early from International football is the main one,” said Terry. “I was on the same number of caps as Wayne Rooney when I retired and it still hurts that I didn’t reach 100 caps and get to walk out with my kids.”
