David Beckham expects Fabio Capello to bring an 'aura' and a 'fear factor' with him to the England job - and is in no doubt the players will 'enjoy' playing for their new manager.
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Reunited? Will Capello picks Beckham for England, the player he dropped and then reinstated during their time at Real Madrid?
Former England captain Beckham likens the style of his old Real Madrid boss to
that of Sir Alex Ferguson - the man who first helped him make his name at
Manchester United.
Capello and Beckham did not always appear to see eye to eye at the Bernabeu -
where the midfielder fell out of favour for a time, before finishing his spell
in Spain strongly last year.
'He has an aura that players will enjoy,' Beckham predicted on Sky Sports
News.
'They are going to enjoy playing under him. I enjoyed playing under him, even
in the bad times.'
Beckham does not blame the Italian, in fact, for the matches he had to spend
out of the Real first-choice line-up.
'There were ups and downs - and I said at the time it was higher than him,
the things that were going on there,' Beckham recalls.
The midfielder's admiration is certainly undimmed for the man under whom he
hopes to win his 100th England cap against Switzerland at Wembley next month.
'Apart from Sir Alex Ferguson, I have never seen anyone so dedicated to
watching football and learning about it,' he added.
'He will do it his way - and that is a good thing.
'We had the fear factor the year we won La Liga. That is what all great
managers have.
'The fear factor with a manager is important. We had it at Manchester United
with Sir Alex Ferguson, and he had so much success and is still having it.'
Capello will be much more than simply a strict disciplinarian in his first job
as an international manager, however.
'He has been passionate about every team he has managed,' Beckham notes.
'His knowledge of football is one of the best - and he has the experience.'
Meanwhile FIFA president Sepp Blatter has expressed his surprise at England's decision
to appoint a foreign coach in Fabio Capello.
The Italian officially starts work today after being chosen by the Football
Association as the man to take the team forward after Steve McClaren failed to
lead them to Euro 2008 qualification.
But Blatter feels the appointment is an unusual move for a country with
England's footballing pedigree.
'I would say it is a little surprising that the motherland of football has
ignored a sacrosanct law or belief that the national team manager should be from
the same country as the players,' Blatter told BBC Sport.
'I have never seen Italy, Germany, Brazil or Argentina with a coach from
another country.
'In fact, most of the best teams have a coach from their own country.'
Blatter insists it is now 'high noon' for English football after the failure
to qualify for next summer's European finals and insists the domestic football
authorities need to address the issue of overseas players in the game.
'When you talk about being a football nation and you look at the big clubs in
the Premier League it is not the English or British game that is represented.
The clubs are international XIs.
'There is no doubt that the Premier League is a global success story in terms
of marketing and money. But one has to question whether this success has been
for the benefit of the game, and not just in England but elsewhere, because the
example of football's motherland is important.
'People want the best for their clubs and the Premier League clubs can afford
it. But this does not serve football. To serve football you must never forget
the national team.'
