It's good to talk: Capello addresses his team in training at London Colney

There are others within the organisation, however, who think it would be foolish for the four-man selection panel - chairman David Bernstein, general secretary Alex Horne, Sir Trevor Brooking and long-serving executive Adrian Bevington - to dismiss such a scenario; who believe he could be persuaded to stay if his side were significantly more successful than they were in South Africa last year.

Such a question was put to Capello in Rio during the summer. He had just attended the draw for England's World Cup qualifying campaign and was sampling a taste of what it might be like to be part of a tournament in Brazil. 'Do you not fancy it?' a reporter asked him. 'No,' he said. 'Next summer I will be 66.'

Indeed he will, on June 18, a day that could mark England's third group game in Poland. But those who know Capello wonder if he will find it any easier to walk away from football than Sir Alex Ferguson; if it is such a significant part of him that when it comes to the crunch he will look to remain involved.

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