Capello's future to be confirmed in days

The Football Association could confirm that Capello will stay as the England coach until his contract expires in 2012 as early as Saturday.

Instead of the two weeks of reflection that was originally announced in the wake of the humiliating record 4-1 defeat by Germany, the decision to keep Capello has already been made in principle.

There will be no emergency board convened, no waiting for the next scheduled Executive Board meeting on July 15; instead acting FA chairman Roger Burden, representing the amateur side of the 11-man board, and Sir Dave Richards, monitoring the opinions of the professional game, have virtually concluded their detailed de-briefing.

The process is so far advanced that the FA are confidentially anticipating that an official announcement can be prepared for release by Tuesday at the latest.

Soccernet insisted that Capello would stay all along, while others believed that he would be sacked. Soccernet also stated categorically that Capello would not resign, when it was reported widely that he would, if England went home early.

One of the pieces of ammunition being fired at Club England chairman Sir Dave Richards has been the decision to erase two clauses from Capello's contract 24 hours before England departed for South Africa. The interpretation is that this was a monumental error by Sir Dave as it means the FA cannot sack Capello without dishing out around £10 million in compensation.

However, Soccernet can now disclose the full inside story of the Capello contract which, had it stayed as it was, would have contained clauses which related specifically to the size of compensation had the FA sacked him which would have run into "several millions".

My FA source tells me that Sir Dave has been unfairly targeted over the contract, explaining that he was merely honouring an agreement already in place and agreed between the former chairman Lord Triesman and the manager.

To remove the clauses just before departure to South Africa was showing the FA's commitment to Capello, and Capello's commitment to the FA. It ended the speculation that Capello would join Inter Milan in succession to Jose Mourinho.

It did not mean that the FA could sack Capello, if they wanted to, free of charge, as it is being portrayed. Any sacking would have triggered a programme of compensation payments which could have eventually reached the same figure under the terms of the new contract.

Capello has been informed of the speed at which the FA are coming to the decision keep him.

Already Executive Board members Phil Gartside and David Sheepshanks have publicly declared their support, and that is a firm indicator that the final count will be heavily in favour of Capello staying, in fact it might prove to be entirely unanimous.

With just a few votes to be cast, I understand that, so far, not one of the 11-man Executive Board has voted in favour of Capello's dismissal, and that will be a true vote of confidence for the under siege boss.