Fabio Capello Resigns: Why It's a Blessing for England at Euro 2012

Remember the excitement surrounding the selection of Fabio Capello as the new manager of the English national team in December of 2007?

Remember Capello's incredible track record that led him there and the way he was touted as a disciplinarian that would bring glory to England through structure and organization?

Remember how Capello said this would be his last job as a football manager and how he seemed determined to do something special with it?

Well here we are over four years later and Capello has stepped down from his position because the FA has gone and taken John Terry's captaincy away without consulting him.  Of course this move upset Capello, as he has been a constant supporter of Terry.

The statement Capello is making by resigning is a simple one: He won't take the responsibility for the results of the team if he has no control over the decisions being made.

And I don't blame him one bit.

The statement is also a strong one. Capello was making £6 million (or $9 million) a year for this position.

The FA clearly wants to protect an image with the public and Capello is obviously not interested in doing so.  He cared much more about what happened on the pitch.

But now that what's done is done, how could this possibly be a good thing for the English side?

Of course, Capello's success has been well-documented.  England dominated throughout qualification for the 2010 World Cup, winning nine out of their 10 matches in group play.  He has amassed an impressive record of 28 wins, eight draws and six losses as manager in England.

That said, he was strongly criticized after the 2010 World Cup for the way he ran training sessions and for his tactics.  Supporters and the media alike criticized his style of training because he didn't allow the older, respected players have a say in the tactics implemented or in the way training sessions were done. He was hounded for running the "outdated" 4-4-2 formation and for playing Steven Gerrard at left midfield.

He was questioned for his squad selection, as he left Theo Walcott off in favor of Emilie Heskey and Ledley King, both of whom were not fit or in good form.

All this to say that Capello is a good manager, but he has never been able to win over the English supporters and media, perhaps because he is Italian.

I stand by the idea that a national manager of a country that has a solid selection pool should be someone who is the same nationality as the team.

Capello's decision to step down will most likely lead to an Englishman rising to the position, which I think is once again the right direction for the FA to go.

There has been much early speculation that the manager of Tottenham, Harry Redknapp, could take Capello's place.  I think this would be a fantastic move.

Redknapp began his time at Tottenham in 2008 and has proved his worth in various ways throughout the last three-and-a-half years.

He led Tottenham to their first ever appearance in the qualifying rounds of the UEFA Champions League in May 2010.  In the following season, he led them to a spot in Europa League.  So far in the 2011-2012 season, Tottenham sit at third in the Barclays Premier League with 50 points through 24 matches.

Of course, Tottenham would not let Redknapp go very easily.  There are many negotiations to be worked out in the coming weeks if it were to become a reality.

However, Redknapp is a fantastic candidate for the position because of his motivational skills, his English blood and his recent successes in an extremely competitive league.

A move like this would give the England National Team some new life.  The club would have a renewed sense of English pride and excitement about the future.

If it were not to work out, some other names that could come up for the position are Under-21 National Team coach Stuart Pearce and Roy Hodgson, manager at West Brom.

England drew an exciting group for Euro 2012 and will meet up with France, Ukraine and Sweden.  They will face France on June 11, Sweden on June 15 and Ukraine on June 19.

The winner of this group, Group D, will face the second place team from Group C, which consists of Spain, Italy, Ireland and Croatia.  The second place team will face the winner of that same group.  The teams that finish third and fourth will not qualify for the knockout rounds.

It's tough to say that the resignation of the manager with the highest winning percentage of all of England's managers is a positive, but England needs a spark and a change at this position could inspire it.