The feel-good factor surrounding England is back with a bang following consecutive victories over Croatia and Spain, which have combined to cannon Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions into the Nations League finals.
The come-from-behind 2-1 victory over 2018 World Cup finalists Croatia, who’d they’d lost to in Russia, came nearly 11 years to the day after Steve McClaren’s England wilted to a 3-2 loss at home to the same country - a rotten result that meant England shockingly missed out on Euro 2008.
Change was needed in the dugout, and in came Fabio Capello, and while he would go on to lead England through to two major tournaments, it was the same old story as his troops crumbled under the weight of pressure and expectation at the 2010 World Cup, before the Italian spectacularly resigned six months before Euro 2012.
Rio Ferdinand previously referred to life under Capello as like a ‘prison-camp’ whereas Wayne Rooney revealed that the boss cheered on Italy during the 2010 World Cup, and now Peter Crouch has now had his say on the Italian coach.
In ‘That England’ episode of ‘That Peter Crouch Podcast’, the striker was asked by his co-stars if Capello had a nickname among the England players. At first Crouch was hesitant to announce it due to the ‘respect’ he has for his ex-boss, but as the duo continued to probe him, they eventually hit the nail on the head in ‘Postman Pat’ following a good old game of charades.
In fairness, Capello’s remarkable resemblance to the animated children's TV character is simply uncanny, although given Capello’s disciplinarian approach we doubt any of the players would have dared mention it in the manager’s presence.
Crouch also revealed on the podcast that Capello questioned his volley technique, much to the players irritation.
“I remember we played Inter Milan in the Champions League while I was at Spurs, and he (Capello) came to the game.
“He was passing judgement on what I was doing. There was a volley that I missed and he was telling me how I should have volleyed it, and I was like: ‘I’m not bad at volleying, I’ve scored a few, don’t change my volleying now I’m 30 years old!,’ but I politely ignored him.”
