The Football stars have aligned but what does it all mean?

Ah well, what a week this been for football in England. Several stories that seemed to be running in parallel suddenly veered into each other. The FA, that organisation that makes the Freemasons seem like evangelists, finally moved to disqualify John Terry being England captain. No surprise there you may say but they haven't actually ruled him out from playing altogether. This may occur once the court case regarding his alleged racial vilification of Anton  Ferdinand is resolved. Unfortunately this case was laid down for trial after the Euros.

To me this would have given England coach Capello a big selection problem. The coach of a side knows instinctively who should be captain of that side. Don't believe it? Believe me it can cause awful morale problems if the 'wrong man' has the armband and the natural leader is also still around. This was the reality that Capello was facing. In so many words he basically told the FA....I'm the coach...I should pick the captain. This reality existed for England regardless of whether Terry proves to be a racist or not. While he was in the squad Capello was correct in identifying him as his captain.

The timing of Capellos' revolt had a certain synchronicity with the winding up of another trial also taking place in London. Harry Redknapp was this week cleared of tax evasion charges going back over 5 years. This was particulary relevant to Capello because it is Redknapp who has continually been touted as the 'English solution to the underwhelming Italian experiment'. Lo and behold the main impediment to Redknapp ever being appointed as England manager was suddenly gone. The FA now needs to move smartly but not hastily to appoint a successor to Capello who promptly resigned from his post. Echo's of past mistakes may come back to haunt the FA if Harry doesn't get the job. The populist groundswell of opinon has spoken. However, the FA has history of ignoring the popular choice hence Brain Clough never managed England. It seems that because Spurs are having their best season for decades Harry has a reluctance to jump ship immediately. Spurs are outsiders to win the league for the first time since 1961....a lifetime opportunity. To me the sensible solution will be to let Harry stay at Tottenham, do the England job part-time til seasons end then take them to the Euros. Will that happen? Unlikely...we are dealing with the FA here!