Sort your game out, FA

I have every sympathy for Fabio Capello.

He was left with little option but to quit after his falling-out with the FA. Who wouldn’t want to get out when your employer fails to consult a senior member of staff on a crucial issue?

Too many employers - and the FA has a poor track record as a model employer - make arbitrary decisions at senior level without proper consultation or communication. It is a curse of much of modern business.

For a chief national coach paid £6m to have his captain stripped of the captaincy - granted, a more symbolic than critical role in football (unlike cricket) - without prior knowledge or consultation was crass and high-handed by the nabobs of soccer. 

I hold no brief for John Terry, but he should have been treated as innocent until proven guilty of alleged racist remarks.

Under the same principle, Harry Redknapp would have been suspended from management of Spurs when he was charged with alleged tax evasion. Sensibly, his employers kept faith in their key employee during a stressful time.

Fabio was misguided to air his concerns on Italian TV but his limited English language skills – and fury at the decision - probably prompted that.

He should have gone after the World Cup fiasco, but the FA failed to act when they should have done. Now they have acted when they should not have done.

It’s another object lesson in how not to do HR – and PR for that matter.

Now the FA must up its game on senior staff recruitment.  With a pretty miserable record on hiring England managers since the exceptions of soccer knights Alf Ramsay and Bobby Robson, few fans will bank on them or their headhunters getting it right next time - with or without ‘Arry.