Fabio Capello Has Been A Huge Failure As England Boss

It all started so brightly.

Fabio Capello was appointed manager of the English national team in December 2007, replacing the outgoing Steve McClaren.

After the disappointment of the European Championship campaign, where the Wally with the Brolly was unable to guide England through qualifying, the Italian mastermind took over and the future looked bright for English football.

He had a resume that would leave most managers drooling, having won six league titles in Italy and two in Spain as well as a Champions League win under his belt. As far as club level was concerned, he was one of the best around.

Although unproven as an international coach, he made a positive start, beating Switzerland 2-1 at Wembley in his first game in charge.

Six weeks later he took his players to France where they were beaten 1-0 in the Stade de France, despite putting up a valiant performance.

From then on though it was plain sailing as England were unbeaten in their next eight fixture in 2008, before being beaten by Spain the following January. They then followed this with another seven-game unbeaten streak.

Capello lead his English Lions to the World Cup while hardly breaking a sweat. They won nine games, losing only once to Ukraine, but by then qualification was assured. As a result, pundits began talking up England's chances of victory at the 2010 World Cup, and we all started to believe the hype.

Then the downward spiral began.

First there was the dramatic dip in form of Wayne Rooney, England's star player tipped to lead the country to glory.

Then there was the bizarre contract renegotiations on the eve of the tournament, when the FA and English fans alike panicked that Inter Milan would swoop to steal Fabio from us.

Then the injury to captain Rio Ferdinand in training at the team base in Rustenburg.

However, a short reprieve came when four minutes into the World Cup campaign, Steven Gerrard gave England a 1-0 lead against the USA. People started to believe that this really could be our year.

I'm sure I don't need to remind people too much more, so I will bullet-point.

• Robert Green cock up

• Two bore draws

• Lucky 1-0 win

• Embarrassing 4-1 loss

Faith in Capello had turned full circle.

He was no longer the untouchable genius that had guided England swiftly and comfortably to South Africa. He was now the clueless foreigner whose English had bizarrely gotten much worse than the already limited offerings he displayed.

Since the pathetic attempt at winning the World Cup, Capello has made countless promises about developing youth and giving the young hungry players a chance. However, aside from one appearance from Jack Wilshere and the emergence of Joe Hart and Adam Johnson, it's pretty much the same bunch of chumps that went to the southern hemisphere last June.

Don Fabio has announced that he will leave his position after the next European Championships and it is unlikely he will be missed, unless by some miracle he comes home with the trophy.

However, I would imagine the only way that will happen is if he steals it from Vincente Del Bosque's backpack.