Capello bans England from playing games

Tim Ingham Feb 7 2008, 2:28pm

Comments (6)

The Times' football correspondent ridicules move

The manager of the England football team Fabio Capello has banned his players from playing video games whilst on training duty.

Capello, who saw his team beat Switzerland 2-1 in his debut game last night, has put an outright ban on the 'PlayStation culture' that he saw as plaguing the national team, according to The Daily Mail.

Other rules reportedly brought in by Capello include a ban on visitors, including agents and friends, having players eat at the same table and no walking around in shorts and flip flops.

The move has been ridiculed by The Times’ chief football writer Martin Samuel, however, who writes:

‘If Fabio Capello is that concerned about winning with England, he may have missed a trick by banning PlayStations. What happened to playing to your strengths? PlayStation was never the problem for England’s footballers anyway.

‘PlayStation, we’re good at. If Steve McClaren could have found a way of challenging Croatia to a game of Donkey Kong, he might have stood a chance. No gadgets, Fabio? Big mistake. It is the football that needs banning. That is what baffles us.’