Fabio Capello tells FourFourTwo that he was all set to replace Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United - but that Fergie apologised to him personally for postponing his retirement
(Image credit: Getty)
Fabio Capello has told FourFourTwo that he almost came to English football five years before landing the national job - by replacing Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.
Speaking in the Euro 2020 special double issue of the magazine, on sale now, Capello explained how he was on the shortlist to replace the outgoing Fergie, who had decided to retire at the end of the 2001/02 season. Eventually, the Scot changed his mind and stayed on at Old Trafford until 2013 - meaning Capello went down a very different path himself.
“It was really close – that is the truth,” Capello said. “I can’t deny that I would have loved to train Manchester United.”
“After winning Serie A with Roma in 2001, I spoke to representatives who came to visit me in Rome, but we couldn’t sign anything because Sir Alex decided not to retire in the end! He phoned me a few days later to apologise, because his wife was trying to convince him to leave, but it was a friendly conversation and I told him that nothing was wrong.”
Capello instead stayed on at Roma for another two years before joining Juventus for two more years after that. When the Calciopoli scandal of 2006 hit Italian football, Capello left the Old Lady - who were forcably relegated - joining Real Madrid, where he teamed with England captain David Beckham.
While working with Beckham, however, the Italian reportedly had his differences with Beckham. At one point, it was suggested that Capello had insisted that the midfielder never play for the club again, before changing his mind. Beckham became an integral part of the La Liga-winning side of that season but Capello still ended up losing his job, with Beckham refusing to extend his contract, in favour of a deal in the MLS at LA Galaxy.
(Image credit: Future)
“In February 2007, the team suffered a negative streak of results, we’d fallen too far behind Barça in the league and had a difficult match in San Sebastian against Real Sociedad. I decided that the time was right to lift Beckham’s punishment.
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A month earlier, he’d announced that he wasn’t going to be renewing his contract with Real Madrid and that he was moving to America to join LA Galaxy, so I made the decision not to play him again. But the truth is that he still trained like a great professional and always had strong support from his team-mates, so that was it. That was why he returned to the side and carried on playing.”
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