Culture Vulture
During his playing days at Juventus, Capello was called The Little Professor because he was known to read philosophy and watch Fellini movies. His listening tastes extended to Bach and Ella Fitzgerald. He is also an art lover, an admirer of Kandinsky and friend of Italian artist Piero Pizzi Cannella, and has a collection of paintings, including a Chagall, believed to be worth £10m. Capello family holidays are not spent by the pool at Sandy Lane or La Manga, but hiking in Tibet or visiting preColombian ruins in Mexico. “We’ve travelled all over the world and really enjoy seeing archaeological sites and places of historic interest,” he says. He and Rio Ferdinand should have much to talk about, then.

Right Winger
Twice manager of Real Madrid, Capello likes Spain, where he has spoken highly of “Latin warmth and creativity regulated by a rigorous order. The order which comes from Franco”. Challenged by an Italian newspaper, he defended the military dictator’s “legacy of order”. “In Spain, everything works well, education, cleanliness, respect. We should follow their example,” he said. In Italy, Capello has endorsed the political ambitions of his former boss, Silvio Berlusconi, and voted for the far-right Northern League party.

Disciplinarian
In 1996 Real Madrid players were handed “Trainer’s Rules I and II” letters by the new coach. In these, Capello imposed a midnight curfew when the team was away from home, made fish the cornerstone of players’ diet and refused to tolerate lateness. In addition, only they and Capello were allowed in the dressing room, and players had to be smartly turned out in his preferred outfit of blue suits and white shirts. Mobile phones were banned from the team bus and dressing room. His quirkiest complaint, however, is with the old-fashioned ankle sock: “When a gentleman crosses his legs and the trouser leg rides up to show hairy shins at the top of the sock, it offends my eyes.” Still, at least he doesn’t own stacked heels like Sven.

Man of Faith
A devout Catholic, he has spoken out against Italy’s laws that allow abortion and has endorsed the current traditionalist pontiff. “I like the Pope,” he says, “for me now the church needs a traditionalist. I am someone who prays twice a day, in the morning and evening, wherever I find myself.” Watch out for the next Glenn Hoddle-style moment of controversy.

Man of Abuse
In January, Capello twice raised his middle finger towards home fans during Real Madrid’s 1-0 win over Real Zaragoza at the Bernabeu. And supporters aren’t the only ones he has insulted. After an argument with Paolo Di Canio during Milan’s 1996 tour of China, he told the Italian striker that his “face looks like a penis”.

Sense of Superiority
With few skeletons in his closet (see below), he is unlikely to receive the same attention from the tabloids as Sven-Göran Eriksson. Yet his past attitude to the media suggests relations with the press could be strained. “Why should I waste my time listening to people who are clearly less intelligent than me?” he has said, which means that press conferences, as well as England training sessions, are likely to be one-way conversations. The mutual antipathy is confirmed by an Italian journalist who said: “You want to know about his human side? That’s easy. He doesn’t have one.”

The Controversialist
His departure from Roma in 2004 for Juventus caused uproar because he told nobody at the club in advance, including his assistant Franco Baldini. Capello had already been involved in a feud with team captain Francesco Totti. As a result, he admits that when he returns to Rome he sometimes needs a bodyguard. Also that year, he confessed that he had taken the stimulant Micoren while he was a player. “At the time it was not illegal, it only became banned afterwards,” he told L’Espresso magazine. When Juventus doctor Riccardo Agricola was then sent to jail after an earlier doping scandal, Capello refused to condemn him.

A Visionary
Like Eriksson before him, Capello has managed to reinforce his refined and intellectual look through his choice of eye-wear. But the Italian doesn’t just wear Zerorh+ glasses because he wants to look sophisticated - he is also paid to endorse the brand. According to Zerorh+’s website, he finds that their glasses “match the style and infinite attention to detail, plus the drive and sporting vitality that epitomises him”. Other big names signed up by Zerorh+ include the, erm, South Korea archery team.

The new Sven and Nancy?
Unfortunately for the tabloids, it seems most unlikely. Unlike Eriksson, Capello is a fan of monogamy, having been married to Laura, whom he met on a bus in Ferrara when they were teenagers, for 40 years. They have two children, including Pier Filippo, who handles his father’s business affairs. It has also been suggested that the Italian will try to eradicate the Wag circus that surrounded England’s World Cup campaign in Germnay last year.

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