Why Fabio Capello Was Right to Resign from His Position as England's Head Coach

Since Fabio Capello announced that he would be stepping down from his post as England's manager today, nearly every angle of his resignation been analyzed.

Potential replacements for the England national team have been lined up, England's chances at Euro 2012 have been broken down, and even Capello's entire career as a manager has been assessed.

But it seems no one has stopped to ask: Was Capello right?

A Google search of the question "Was Fabio Capello right to resign?" brought only one front-page article (from Bleacher Report) which addressed the question, but said article hardly answered the question.

Instead, the article avoided any discussion of the issues factoring into the Capello's decision to resign, and concluded that the parting of ways between Capello and the FA was "the best for everyone in this situation."

So here, I hope to do what I believe that article failed to do: I'll break down the issues that ultimately lead Capello to making his decision, and give my an informed opinion on why I believe he was right (or wrong, in certain cases).

The entire FA-Capello feud began when the FA stripped John Terry of the captaincy of the England national team ahead of his racism trial for an incident earlier this season with Queens Park Rangers' Anton Ferdinand.

This upset Capello greatly for two reasons, which he made clear in an interview with Italian broadcast station Rai 1:

"

I completely disagree with the FA about the John Terry decision and I have told that to the chairman.

The court will decide. It's going to be civil justice, not sports justice, to decide if John Terry committed the crime that he is accused of.

I considered and still consider Terry as the England captain. I think we first should wait for the trial conclusion.

"

The first reason the decision upset Capello was because it violated the principle "innocent until proven guilty," which Capello referred to using the words "civil justice." 

The second reason, which isn't really highlighted here, is that Capello wasn't consulted and a decision he did not agree with of was made without his approval.

This point is further highlighted here, in an interview which Capello has now denied ever giving.

So, who's in the right?

The second reason or issue of Capello having his authority superseded is one where Capello's point of view is well-supported.

Catania coach Vincenzo Montella, Sir Alex Ferguson and Andre-Villas Boas are just three of many coaches who have support Capello's decision to voice his discontent with the FA's actions.

They all believe that not consulting Capello was the wrong move to make, and that Capello's outburst was not an unreasonable reaction to the FA's removal of Terry's captaincy.

Of course, not everyone agreed with Capello. Sports minister Hugh Robertson gave his opinion recently on why he believed Capello was wrong and the FA was right:

"

The FA have acted very sensibly, very reasonably, and they have come to the right decision.

There were really two things they have to tackle at the end of last week. There was the moral case, which was a very difficult one because in this country you are innocent until you are proven guilty, so it would have been very tough to take action on that front.

There was also the practical side of it which makes it extraordinarily difficult for John Terry, fabulous footballer and a great captain though he is, to discharge that responsibility in the white heat of this kind of publicity during the European Championship.

"

In his explanation, Robertson outlined the issues at hand with his the stripping of Terry's captaincy via the FA's decision. He admitted that using morals to justify their decision would make the decision unreasonable, but claimed that practicality justified the FA's decision.

Wait a minute, I'm confused. I thought it the manager's job to decide what's practical for his team. If a manager doesn't win with his team, then he's not doing his job. So essentially, it is in a manager's job description to be practical, isn't it?

To use an analogy, it's almost like a policeman coming into a family's household to inform the parents that they may no longer decide on how to raise their kids. From now on, a panel of family friends who has only limited contact with their kids will decide on how to best raise them.

It's ridiculous, because the panel of family friends has a very limited knowledge of the family's kids. They see them at social functions, but otherwise their exposure to these kids is limited and they know very little about how these kids interact.

Furthermore, now that the panel of family friends has shown that it is in control, how are the children supposed to respect their parents? Why listen to them if it has been shown that they aren't the ultimate decision makers and have had their authority superseded on previous occasions?

The analogy isn't perfect, but I believe it makes many good points. By making their decision, the FA compromised Capello's authority and essentially tried to do his job for him. Such action is unprecedented in world football, and inexcusable.

The first issue of "innocent until proven guilty" doesn't even need to be addressed. Capello is right, and Robertson admits this. He only argues on the issue of practicality, which is definitely an issue in the domain of Capello and not the FA.

Unfortunately, too many Englishmen (and women) are swayed by their hate (or dislike) of John Terry in this scenario to see the error in the FA's ways.

I don't like John Terry as much as the next guy, and in America he'd probably have been dropped from our national team by now (see: John Harkes), but that's not the issue. If Capello believes Terry is the man for the job, and wins games with him as England's captain, why does it matter?

Robertson has already made it clear that Terry's removal from his position as England's captain was not about morals, so if Capello is able to win with Terry as captain, why should the FA interfere? It just makes no sense.

Polls like this one by The Sun indicate that more people than not believe Capello was wrong to support Jason Terry and resign in opposition to his removal as captain of the England national team.

Given the media bias against Capello, and the widespread desire for an English manager like Harry Redknapp, it's not surprising.

But those who choose to break down the reasons for Capello's resignation will see that the FA were clearly in the wrong on this one, and personally, I expect England to pay dearly for their mistake not only at Euro 2012, but potentially afterwards as well.