[Sunday Herald]

The Guardian reports that Fabio Capello is not intending to resign immediately after England’s worst ever defeat at a World Cup. Instead he will discuss his future with the chairman of the Football Association, Sir David Richards, and take it from there. Since Fabio is on 6 million a year to ensure success for the national team, there will no doubt be many who feel he should be shown the door. A semi-revolt by the players against Capello’s squad choice also suggested disquiet about the man’s leadership qualities.

But the woeful exit of England has more to do than Capello, or the appallingly static defence that watched as Germany took the game away from them. Far more. England were physically present in South Africa, but mentally they never showed up. From game one against the USA, the players were not in touch with each other or with the task ahead at the biggest tournament in the business. At least, it should be the biggest tournament.

England no longer has a national team. It has a collection of individuals, the majority of whom play for major clubs in England that place everything at the mercy of Premiership and European success.  The English game has been decimated by a commercialisation of football that has seen the game become a slave to TV rights and investors. Abramovich runs Chelsea, Manchester City is run from Abu Dhabi, Liverpool is run from the US, and Manchester United, in the hands of the Glazer family’s arcane corporate construction, is now more than 700 million in debt and rising. In fact, a UEFA report earlier this year stated that the Premier League carries 56% of all debt owed by all the top leagues across Europe. One of them – Portsmouth - went bust last season. The full financial details for each Premier league club can be found here. Only unfashionable Birmingham City, unextravagant and solid mid-table material, look to have a rosy financial future.  

In these desperate financial circumstances, when interest on debt alone has been forcing some of the clubs into even riskier plays on the stock and bond market, the need for success is more than anything economically driven. The fans have seen this happen over the past decade and there have been plenty of occasions when they have expressed their discontent, but the fact is that English football has become one big bloated business with nothing else on its mind than club glory. The Football Association has allowed too much power to go to the clubs and has not done anything about compensating for this loss of control in terms of nurturing young talent and giving young players a chance. The constant urge to sign star players at Third-World-debt salaries has destroyed much inclination to build from the bottom up. The ridiculous amount of games the players in the Premiership have to play – especially those playing in European competitions – means they are washed up by the end of a season. You saw that in South Africa. They were dead in the water, unable to generate any energy after yet another devastatingly long season without a winter break.

Capello would do us all a favour if he did resign. Not because its his fault, but simply to take the opportunity to deliver a painfully honest speech on the dire reality of football in England today. The Germans have a league that lacks the money but is as vibrant as any in the world, and it produces a stock of home-grown talent as a result. The Netherlands has a small league and its best players go abroad, which can cause tensions, but the nucleus of a national ethic remains in place. England has a league dominated by a bunch of debt-ridden corporations only out for club profit. In this situation, why bother with a national team?

Tell it as it is, Fabio. It stinks, so tell it.