All you need to know about Fabio Capello

Sir Alex Ferguson believes Fabio Capello is ideally suited to the stresses of managing England. Capello's appointment as Steve McClaren's successor was confirmed by the Football Association on Friday, with the Italian due to start work on Januray 7, 2008.

With nine league titles on his impressive CV and a coaching career encompassing spells with Juventus, AC Milan and Real Madrid, few believe Brian Barwick, the FA chief executive, could have got anyone better. But the Manchester United boss warns Capello will soon feel the strain which comes with being England manager.

"There is a tremendous pressure on the English coach, which Fabio will understand when he is two minutes into the job," Ferguson said.

"It is not going to be an easy job. There is a lot of work to do with the England team to get them to the level everyone expects, so I hope he will get the support he needs.

"But what Fabio has got is experience. I have spoken for a long time about the necessity of a national team manager to be experienced and to have a good CV and a presence and be the right age. Fabio Capello has all those things.

"He will definitely command the respect of the players."

One of the concerns about Capello's impending appointment has been a perceived inability to speak English.

Yesterday, Rafael Benitez spoke of the difficulty he had in overcoming the language barrier following his arrival at Liverpool - a problem that would only be magnified in a dressing room full of English-speaking players, a rarity now at club level.

Yet Ferguson has encountered Capello at enough events to know the former Italy player has actually quite a decent command of English and can certainly communicate well enough not to have any trouble getting his point across.

"Fabio's English is okay," said the Scot. "I have never had any problem speaking to him. I was reading about the problem with the language Rafael Benitez had when he came to Liverpool.

"But maybe Rafa couldn't speak English, whereas Fabio can. That is a big advantage to him."

Meanwhile, Raymond Domenech, the France coach, has criticised the FA for appointing another foreign manager.

"The FA's decision to go with Capello as the new England manager is a very serious move, especially for English coaches," Domenech said.

"I believe the fact that they went abroad to look for a manager, just as they did in the past with Eriksson, is not positive. England need a manager that has the same mentality as their players."

Domenech nevertheless was full of praise for the Italian coach.

"I have respect for Capello," he said. "I'm not talking in this manner because Capello is Italian. I only say this for the good of English coaches, who should feel offended by this appointment of a foreign manager."