Elimination will force Capello to resign, claim senior FA figures

FABIO CAPELLO will resign if England are knocked out of the World Cup on Wednesday.

That is what the Football Association are anticipating, according to a BBC report last night.

The FA is refusing to publicly discuss the possibility of the team’s elimination at the group stage. But privately, senior figures admit they are considering their next move if England crash out against Slovenia.

The development was followed by a report that the players had won a concession from Capello over selection at a “clear the air” meeting last night. Sky sources claimed the coach had agreed to name Wednesday’s team earlier rather than stick to the deadline of two hours before kick-off previously ed.

If Capello were to quit it would be a remarkable turn of events given the FA only renegotiated his four-year contract at the start of the month.

England officials went on the defensive last night as the players held their meeting with Capello where they thrashed out what had gone wrong and discussed potential switches in tactics and personnel.

After abject performances against USA and Algeria, failure to win in Port Elizabeth would almost certainly mean England heading home after collecting just two points from their opening Group C games.

It would raise serious questions as it is less than three weeks since he signed a revised contract, removing a break clause in his £6 million-a-year deal that now runs until the end of Euro 2012.

Club England managing director Adrian Bevington said: “We are absolutely focused on Wednesday night’s game. Nothing else is in our minds. We are fully supportive of Fabio Capello and the England team and believe they will have the total support of the England fans in Port Elizabeth this week.”

The England boss, who led the team to nine wins in 10 games in qualification, has refused to say whether he will leave his post if the team fail to qualify from a group they were expected to breeze through.

Reports have also suggested the players are unhappy with Wayne Rooney for his blast at the England fans who booed the team after Friday’s dismal 0-0 draw with Algeria.

Joe Cole’s omission from the first two games is also said to have startled some team members.

Bevington said: “I have been around England for the best part of 13 or 14 years now and what I have seen is that we have a very experienced manager here who has been applauded from the minute he got the job. We appreciate that on Friday evening the level of experience wasn’t anywhere near what we would have liked. Fabio was open about that but the most important thing is that we all stay together as one.”

Meanwhile David James denied there was any crisis. The veteran keeper said: “We have a group of players who want to win games and haven’t. We’re confident we can win on Wednesday.”