By Ollie Irish

“I’m too old for this shit”

As I recall, Big Phil Scolari refused to take the England job because of the relentless media attention that accompanied it. If Scolari has read the stories today about how England team meetings were secretly recorded, I’m sure he would be even more relieved to have dodged the bullet (even if he was eventually scarred by his experience of managing Chelsea).

There are few men capable of managing England today. Happily, Fabio Capello is one of those men. Unhappily, England’s tabloid culture – invasive, boorish, tacky, always appealing to the lowest common denominator – may yet drive Capello away.

Tabloid culture is the sole reason why England’s team meetings were bugged. They weren’t bugged because one of England’s opponents wanted tactical secrets (heaven forbid tabloid sports editors start to give a shit about what happens ON the pitch, rather than in private), they were bugged in the hope of panning some nuggets of ‘gossip’, ideally involving John Terry, which could then be hawked to the likes of the News of the World for a fat fee and wrapped up as ‘news’.

I’m dead tired (© Arnie) of our media doing everything in its power to derail England, and always with extra relish in a World Cup year, when interest in football surges. Fabio Capello has been around the block, but even he must be getting sick of this bullshit by now. I know I am.

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