At Wembley
Harry Redknapp may have been in his trademark pose, conducting interviews out of an open car window many miles away - but in spirit he was almost in the room with the Football Association's delegation at Wembley.
Fabio Capello's decision to quit as England manager brought the world's media to FA headquarters as chairman David Bernstein led the response with a detailed timeline of four hours on Wednesday that ended with the Italian walking away from his £6m-a-year post.
And throughout what was a measured response, Tottenham manager Redknapp played the part of the elephant in the room.
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And so what started with such optimism in December 2007 ends just over four years later in rancour and another unholy mess.
"We wanted a winner with a capital W," barked the FA chief executive Brian Barwick at that unveiling in central London. "That was the template. This is the man. Fabio Capello!"
You could understand Barwick's brio. Capello came to the England job with a CV like few others - nine major league titles and a European Cup in 16 years as club manager, a successful enough itinerant to have won championships in four different big cities.
For a while he appeared to be bringing the same success to international football. Under his stern gaze, England made their best ever start to a World Cup qualifying campaign, winning their first nine matches, including demolishing Croatia 4-1 in Zagreb in exhilarating fashion.
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As Fabio Capello clears his desk at Wembley, the Italian's successor as England coach will discover that he has left a congested in-tray behind him.
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp is at the front of a short queue of contenders to replace Capello following his resignation at the conclusion of a chain of events that moved rapidly after the Football Association board stripped John Terry of the captaincy.
And when the FA's new man is appointed, there will be no time for gentle introductions or a period of acclimatisation with England preparing for Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine in June and matters of pressing urgency to be resolved.
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© 2012