End of the Rainbow

Oliver Holt

It started in Baden-Baden and ended up in tears. England's 2010 World Cup odyssey had its roots in the off-the-field circus in a German spa town during the 2006 tournament. Reacting to public and media disdain for the antics of superstar players and their shopaholic partners the Football Association began looking for a disciplinarian 'winner' to banish the aura of under-achievement left by the laissez-faire regimes of Sven-Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren.

The search led to Fabio Capello. With a no-nonsense style hailed as a throwback to a time before cash and the cult of celebrity transformed the national game the Italian guided England through a near-perfect World Cup qualifying campaign. The FA it seemed had found their man of destiny who could exploit the talent and curb the excesses of the "rich young boys" as Capello termed them that wore the Three Lions.

Then with the finals looming cracks appeared in this brave new world. Capello stripped John Terry of the captaincy for his alleged affair with a teammate's ex-partner. Replacement captain Rio Ferdinand withdrew injured. And as England started falteringly in South Africa strained relations between "Don Fabio" and certain players compounded the sense of a squad ill at ease in their isolated Wag-free retreat.>