It will all end in tears. Again.

Roy Hodgson or Harry Redknapp? Sober tactician or wise-cracking rabble-rouser? Cosmopolitan technocrat or salt-of-the-earth motivator? The question is largely irrelevant, or certainly less important than the far bigger issue of why on earth England found themselves in the position of appointing a manager six weeks before a major tournament.

How did it come to this? England’s final friendly before the announcement of the squad came in February against Holland under the temporary management of Stuart Pearce. It should have been a case of fine-tuning, of tweaking an existing system, perhaps of experimenting in one or two areas, looking to augment and improve the side that had carried them through qualifying. Instead we got the plucky England cliché as they fought back from two down only to be thwarted by a deflected last-minute winner: a brave effort from Psycho’s young lions. Pleasing fluency at times. The start of a bold new era for English football... as a response to a single game played with a youthful side under a caretaker manager, the press reaction made a certain sense. But the crucial thing was context.

It seemed to have been all but forgotten that in the last international break, England beat the world and European champions Spain and then ended a run of 43 years without a victory over Sweden. Yes, both games finished 1-0. Yes, the football wasn’t particularly thrilling. But it worked. England, at last, seemed to have accepted their limitations and played to the maximum of what it could achieve, defending stoutly and threatening with counter-attacks and set-plays. That’s how tournaments are won; it’s certainly how Fabio Capello, the great pragmatist, has achieved his success.