England job: Costs add up, story doesn't

Just ask Graham Kelly and Keith Wiseman, formerly chairman and chief executive. They were forced to resign in 1999 after being accused of loaning the Welsh FA £3.2 million in exchange for their backing in elevating Wiseman to the Fifa vice-presidency. Both denied the charge – Wiseman said the money was a "gift" – but both were bounced out under a cloud.

Then there's Mark Palios, another chief executive, who resigned in 2004 following revelations of a sexual relationship with an employee, Faria Alam (who, of course, also famously had a fling with the England coach at the time, one Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Or Lord Triesman, who was forced to resign after an affair with a blogger who secretly taped their private conversations (which included all sorts of offensive and unfounded speculation about bribes and misdeeds by other nations) and then sold it all to a Sunday newspaper.

Indeed, whatever you may think of Brian Barwick and Adam Crozier, another two former chief executives, you can only marvel at their ability to have avoided falling victim to a malaise that seemingly results in stupid decisions and mid-life priapism.

So has David Bernstein, the current chairman, succumbed to the former? Time will tell. But early indications aren't good. He obviously gets a pass on the fact that the FA run roughshod over two pretty basic principles: that a man is innocent until proven guilty and that a man can be fit to represent his country but, somehow, not fit to captain it.

Judging from media opinion – which seems to be all that matters to the FA – few are giving him stick for the decision to strip John Terry of the armband. Instead, let's focus on what followed, starting with Fabio Capello's "resignation". That's the official line and both parties are sticking with it: he walked out. But, if that's the case, why is he subject to a gag order until July? And what kind of job is it where you can quit and still enjoy a fat compensation package?

Also, if you're planning on quitting, do you get on with your job as if nothing was about to happen less than 48 hours before you hand in your resignation, as Capello did Monday night, travelling up to Anfield to watch Liverpool v Tottenham?

Yes, I'm indulging in speculation and conjecture, and inviting the FA to prove that the situation was otherwise, perhaps by releasing documentation to that effect. Until that happens, it's fair to question whether Capello was pushed.

The "resignation" stance is a convenient out which suits both sides. Capello can look good, telling people that he resigned as a matter of principle. And the FA can avoid that other nagging question: why did you sack somebody four months away from a major championship without having any obvious plan in place for a successor? Whatever the case, the outcome is the same, which would explain why at least two senior FA figures seemed decidedly dejected even as Bernstein was saying England were in much better shape than they appear to be.

What "better shape" would that be? The FA need to find a successor and they've already painted themselves into a corner by saying they would prefer an "English or British" candidate. If you exclude Scots, for obvious reasons, that talent pool is pretty slim, especially since Martin O'Neill has already rejected the FA once and is extremely unlikely to turn his back on Sunderland.

Nope, in terms of credible cand-idates, you're basically talking one man: Harry Redknapp. And, of course, that's the guy most of the media want. Redknapp, of course, isn't unemployed right now and it would take a huge wad of cash to persuade Tottenham chief exec-utive Daniel Levy to let him leave White Hart Lane.

Just as to convince Redknapp to drop Spurs and take over (whether now, which seems unlikely, or at the end of the season) would also be expensive. If he takes over in June, he'd be walking into a European Championship without having worked with the team for any length of time and without any real chance to scout and prepare.

The best thing for Redknapp personally would be to take up the job after the Euros, which you'll recall was the plan all along. For him to move sooner would require more cash on the table, leaving the FA in a ridiculously weak negotiating position.

In fact, once you factor in Capello's pay-off, compensation for Spurs and the fact that Redknapp can pretty much name his own price, you realise just how unnecessarily expensive this whole affair has been for the FA. And that's why you can't help but feel that the curse on the men at the top has struck again.

The African Cup of Nations comes to a close this evening, with Zambia taking on Ivory Coast in the final. Those who feared that the many blue-blooded absentees – Egypt, Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa and Algeria all failed to qualify – would somehow diminish the competition were proved wrong.

Tonight, we get the best team in Africa, man for man, pound for pound, and the team that have not only played the best football but also provided one of the most compelling stories.

Nearly 20 years after the tragic plane crash that killed all but three members of the Zambian national team (they weren't on the flight), the country is on the verge of winning its first major footballing honour, and they get the chance to do it in almost exactly the same spot where that side was wiped out.

Expect to read plenty about Zambia if they pull off the upset, but Ivory Coast are a great story as well. Despite having a team packed with superstars, they've regularly underachieved in major competitions.

This time, rather than a high- priced foreign coach, they chose one of their own, Francois Zahoui, as their manager. Under him, they have been disciplined, organised and – above all – united, which is exactly what they haven't been in the past.