It will surely be some time before England fans recover from their team's disastrous UEFA EURO 2008 qualification bid. Drawn in a tough but manageable group, the English were inconsistent throughout and made headlines for all the wrong reasons by failing to secure the point they needed at home to Croatia in their final outing.

Unsurprisingly, coach Steve McClaren was made to carry the can for that bitter disappointment and after his sacking some of the biggest names in the game were cited as possible replacements. Marcello Lippi, Jose Mourinho, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink and Gerard Houllier were all mentioned, but Fabio Capello is the man now installed in one of the most prestigious and daunting jobs in world football.

Rigour, professionalism and pragmatism are the qualities that pepper the Italian's speeches and, at 61 years of age, he will be relying on all three traits as he attempts to steer England's demoralised national side to their first trophy since the 1966 FIFA World Cup™ on home soil.

"It will be a very interesting challenge and difficult challenges have always fascinated me," declared the man himself after McClaren's exit, openly stating his interest in a post as exalted as his own reputation.

A glance at his record suggests difficult challenges really do get the best out of him, and he has won league titles at all the clubs he has helmed. AC Milan, Real Madrid, AS Roma and Juventus were all crowned champions during Capello's time in the dugout, even if his two wins with Juve have since been rescinded.

His appointment as England coach represents the biggest test of his credentials yet, however. It is the first time he has elected to lead a national team and, true to his nature, he has chosen to begin with the trickiest of all.

Wembley memories
Before he became an authoritarian on the touchline, Capello was a solid defensive midfielder who formed an excellent partnership with Franco Causio for the Azzurri, for whom he made 32 appearances between 1972 and 1976. His club career unfolded at Juventus, for the most part, and he won three scudetti there alongside Dino Zoff, Gaetano Scirea and Roberto Bettega, before adding a fourth Serie A crown with AC Milan at the age of 33.

His place in the annals of Italian football rests on the 'historic' goal he scored in England on 14 November 1973, however, a goal that earned Italy a 1-0 win and their first ever victory at Wembley. He will no doubt be hoping for a barrage of similarly memorable exploits at the new Wembley in the next few years.

Born in the northern Italian province of Gorizia, along the Slovenian and Austrian borders, Capello is a gruff individual, far from the stereotypical light-hearted jokesters Italy has been known to export in the past. As a player, he was hard-working and generous, never shying away from the more mundane tasks, and as a coach he demands the same seriousness and rigour from his charges, laying down the law with an iron fist rarely placed inside a velvet glove.

Flexible on the tactical front, he has modified his teams depending on the players available to him, evolving from the 3-5-2 he used at Roma to the more classical 4-4-2 he employed with Juve. But what never changes is his insistence on a strict tactical framework that draws on players' strengths and ability to work together as opposed to their reputations and medal collections. Indeed, some of the world's finest talents have paid the price for failing to take that on board, including Alessandro del Piero, Ronaldo and David Beckham.

Tactics and personality
"He's a strong man and a strong character," explained Arsene Wenger recently, and the Arsenal coach is well placed to comment after coming up against Capello's teams on numerous occasions. "He has a clear idea of what he wants and when he's convinced of something he goes to the end of it. I believe he is a strong winner and is a guy who is convinced of the methods that he uses. I believe a manager is strong when he swims against the tide - I feel he can do that and that is quite a needed quality in this country."

Sacked by Real Madrid after steering the club to the 2006/07 Spanish title, Fabio Capello was officially shown the door for having been too defensive with his approach. He then set out on a sort of sabbatical year, consigning himself to his role of consultant for Italian television.

After England's elimination at the hands of Croatia, he expressed his shock that a team filled with so many skilled players had failed to progress. It was nothing short of a declaration of faith in midfielders such as Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, whose styles tick all the right boxes for Capello. Now all the Italian needs to do is succeed where so many of his predecessors have failed: by turning a collection of talented individuals into a successful team.