The decision over John Terry’s captaincy rests with his manager. Not since the Reformation has an Italian held such sway

It’s the biggest meeting between a Brit and an Italian since Henry VIII asked Clement VII for a hand with his marriage. And while it seems unlikely that this weekend’s sit-down between England captain John Terry and his manager Fabio Capello will result in a resettlement between church and state, you wouldn’t want to rule it out.

Terry, as you may be aware, is in trouble for certain indiscretions. A married man and father of two, Terry is alleged to have had an affair with Vanessa Petrocelli, the mother of former teammate Wayne Bridge’s child. There has been much toing-and-froing as to the consequences of this matter, what it says about England’s chances of winning the World Cup and the moral decline of this once great nation of ours. The responsibility for divining what the ultimate consequences should be, it has been decided, is to fall on Capello, and Capello alone.

“[John] is keeping his own counsel until he speaks to England manager Fabio Capello and then Mr Capello will decide what ­announcement will be made,” said Terry’s PR flak Phil Hall this week. The Guardian reported that the FA’s chief executive, Ian Watmore, and chairman, Lord Triesman, had officially determined that they would not get involved.

Normally, one would suspect a stitch-up in a situation like this – a determined bout of handwashing, leaving the foreigner to take the blame. Not that anyone would ever have asked Sven-Goran Eriksson to adjudicate on amorous faux-pas. But it seems that something different is happening this time around; the decision is being left to Capello because he knows.

Capello is currently treated with a respect greater than that afforded any public figure in the UK. Apart, possibly, from Judi Dench. Mr, or better, Don Capello is not only hailed for his achievements as a football coach, but for his qualities as a man. Here’s the estimable Martin Samuel writing in the Daily Mail:

“In times of crisis, we demand our leaders demonstrate all the patience of a white van man stuck behind a panicking learner driver on the outside lane of a dual carriageway. Capello, thankfully, is better than that. He is better than kneejerk, he is better than soundbite, he is better than crisis management on the hoof.”

Is he better than a bear or a lion in a fight? We may never find out. But currently, he is being ascribed the qualities that might have made Alexander the Great blush.

Officially, of course, the issue of what to do with Terry – specifically, whether to remove him from the England captaincy – will be resolved strictly according to “footballing criteria”. But you can’t help but get the feeling that more is desired of of this weekend’s capo a capo encounter.

I think there are certain people who are hoping that this 63-year-old, currently recovering from knee surgery, will decide whether what Terry did was acceptable – or not. That this stern, martial traditionalist will draw a line in the sand against the dissolute culture of which Terry is a symbol. That, even If Team Bridge is willing to forgive him, he will rule that Terry is not the right man to be lead our country into battle.

An Italian shriving the nation’s sins? Wonder what Big Henry would make of that.

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An inability to recruit quality new players has left the old elite clubs vulnerable

At a time when British politicians are re-igniting “class war” and the gulf between rich and poor seems to be ever widening, Premier League football is facing an unexpected outbreak of egalitarianism. “The old top four – Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool – have lost their aura of invincibility,” says Frank Clark, the vice-chairman of the League Managers Association and former Manchester City and Nottingham Forest manager. “Other clubs are less in awe of them.”

Midway through a season in which Liverpool are threatening to slide into mid-table and even Arsenal fans are nervous about Champions League qualification despite Sunday’s win at Anfield, Clark is engrossed. “The Premier League’s become much more exciting and dramatic but change was inevitable,” he says. “Things don’t stay the same, nothing goes on forever and we’ve had the same top four for quite a while.”

Indeed Kevin Keegan’s assertion, made just 19 months ago when he was still in charge at Newcastle United, that the top four’s omnipotence had made England’s elite division “boring” is increasingly being debunked. While Manchester City, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur all possess the wherewithal to break into the charmed leading quartet, even comparatively inconsistent mid-table sides such as Sunderland have proved capable of beating Arsenal and Liverpool and drawing at Manchester United.

Clark suggests homegrown coaches have now evolved to the point where they are no longer routinely tactically out-witted or psychologically overawed by the like of Arsène Wenger and Rafael Benítez. “I’m delighted to see British managers, people like Mark Hughes, Martin O’Neill and Harry Redknapp, doing so well this season,” he said. “I think they, and others, are all being a bit braver when they play the top four now, their gameplans look bolder than sometimes in the past.”

Peter Taylor, the former England Under-21 coach, feels British coaching talent is finally renascent. “If you put Mark Hughes, Martin O’Neill or Harry Redknapp in charge of one of the so called top four today they would all do excellent jobs,” he said. “My only concern is that Manchester City’s owners realise how very, very good Mark Hughes is and give him the time he needs to build City properly.”

As Bob Dylan once said “money doesn’t talk, it swears”, and, whatever the longer term identity of City’s manager, the black gold pouring forth from Abu Dhabi’s oilfields promises to alter the topography of English football. Alan Switzer, of the sports business group at Deloitte, sees the top four evolving into a “fluid top six” with teams sometimes spending alternate seasons in the Champions and Europa Leagues.

“Manchester City’s owners in Abu Dhabi have made it very clear they are here for the long haul and intend City to challenge at the top,” said Switzer. “Aston Villa are benefiting from the stability and steady, ongoing investment provided by Randy Lerner’s ownership and Tottenham should start doing even better when they move to a new ground and start maximising their revenue.”

Liverpool’s cause is hindered by the postponement of their long vaunted relocation to a new stadium. “I don’t think there’s any danger of Liverpool turning into the ‘new Leeds’ but, until their new ground is finally built and revenues from it maximised, it will be harder for them to compete at the very top,” said Switzer.

It does not help that the gargantuan debt burdens imposed on Liverpool and Manchester United by their respective American owners prevented Benítez and Sir Alex Ferguson spending in the transfer market as Real Madrid and City did last summer. Ferguson’s attendant inability adequately to replace Cristiano Ronaldo and Benítez’s lack of a natural successor to Xabi Alonso have consequently left their teams weaker than last season.

The same could be said of Arsenal and Chelsea. While Wenger’s faith in youth remains laudable, Robin van Persie’s recent injury has highlighted the club’s lack of attacking depth, particularly after the French manager sold his most experienced striker, Emmanuel Adebayor, to City during the summer.

Similarly Roman Abramovich’s decision to pause his £700m spending spree at Chelsea has left Carlo Ancelotti with a still formidably strong squad but one whose players are now extremely familiar to Premier League rivals. The impending transfer ban imposed over the Gaël Kakuta affair hardly helps. Without constantly refreshing their teams with new signings or youth team graduates – and those are rare at Stamford Bridge and, more particularly, Anfield – it becomes harder for Ancelotti and company to retain that essential element of surprise.

If Chelsea remain most people’s favourites for the title no one is quite sure what impact the loss of Didier Drogba and Michael Essien to January’s African Cup of Nations will have on Ancelotti’s team. “I think Chelsea might be a bit worried about the Nations Cup,” said Taylor. “And, of course, Villa, City and Spurs don’t have the demands and distractions of playing in Europe. It’s going to be a fascinating second half of the season.”

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