Football Betting – Has Index Furore Marked Fabio’s Card?

Oh dear! Somebody really ought to take that shovel off poor old Fabio Capello before he digs himself a hole that the FA are unable to pull him out of! In Italy, the more controversial the character, the more people appear to love them. Let’s face it, that’s how Silvio Belusconi came to be prime minister. But the culture in England is a little different, as are the press, and they rarely miss an opportunity to drag a man down nor kick him once he’s on the floor so if Capello thought he’d got away with England‘s abject World Cup performances, think again! The much-maligned Capello Index, which Fabio presumed had been swept under carpet , reappeared this week to stamp another boot onto the Italian’s increasingly tenuous grip on the England manager‘s job. The index gives a score out of a hundred to all the players attending the World Cup, naming a team of the tournament, etc but, more importantly, it was publicised with the belief that Capello would be revealing how he rated all of those playing under him in South Africa. Now if Fabio’s son Pierfilippo, who acts as his agent, is to be believed, Capello senior has already disassociated himself from the ppotential money-making project and certainly didn’t authorise its publication. However, the family have still been forced to issue an apology having assured the FA that England’s players would not be named and shamed and the new controversy has re-ignited the betting to succeed Capello when one side or the other decides enough is enough. Harry Redknapp, who has already declared an interest, remains Skybet‘s 5/2 favourite, while England U21 manager Stuart Pearce is 4/1 with Skybet and Victor Chandler. The latter have introduced former incumbents Terry Venables and Steve McClaren at 20/1 and William Hill have included Glenn Hoddle at 25/1 to climb back into the hot seat but I don’t think even the FA could be sweet-talked into such a drastic course of action. Talking of England, Victor Chandler have a market on who will be in goal for their opening Euro 2012 qualifier against Bulgaria with young gun Joe Hart 11/8 to get the nod over old-timer David James (10/3) and the hapless Robert Green (9/2). Green fared particularly poorly in the Capello Index so I’d probably be wanting twice those odds if that is a reflection of how he’s rated by his manager!