Former England manager Fabio Capello allegedly accused Andy Carroll of "sleeping with grannies" during a furious behind-the-scenes rant, according to the striker's new autobiography.
Capello was England manager between January 2008 and February 2012, overseeing their 2010 World Cup campaign in South Africa, where the Three Lions were eliminated in the round of 16. Four months after that disappointment, Capello selected the then-Newcastle striker, now 37, to make his debut against France in a friendly.
Despite handing Carroll his first international cap, the pair had a difficult relationship, as detailed in Carroll's book 'Owning It'. The Dagenham & Redbridge star claims the Italian boss was a stickler for rules, and one incident allegedly saw him target Carroll for his off-field activities, lambasting him for drinking and apparent sexual relations with grannies.
Phone Incident and Ketchup Ban
Carroll wrote: "The gaffer, Fabio Capello, was slightly crazy. One day, me and Ashley Young decided to head down for a meeting fifteen minutes early. There I was, sitting on the floor looking at my phone, when Capello walked in, marched over and snatched it out of my hand. 'We are trying to work here!' he barked. 'You're disrespectful, f***ing using your phone! Send me a message!'".
"With that, he threw the phone at my chest. I looked at him and thought, 'Mate, I'm fifteen minutes early for your meeting, and there's nobody else here. What is your problem?' Ashley, who had hidden his phone up his shirt, looked terrified."
Carroll continued: "Capello would let us have a glass of wine and dessert with lunch and dinner - chocolate cake, ice cream, whatever - but wouldn't allow ketchup. It made no sense - why wine and dessert but not ketchup? - and I could only conclude that it had nothing to do with nutritional concerns and everything to do with the fact he was Italian."
Meeting with John Terry
"One evening, John Terry knocked on my door. 'The gaffer wants a word,' he said. 'What? Why!' I said, confused. 'He's not happy with your behaviour outside of football.' I later found out that John had gone to Capello and said he needed to speak to me because I was out of control."
"No sooner had I walked into this meeting with Capello than he started berating me. 'You are always in the media for drinking and sleeping with grannies,' he said. 'You need to stop with this'. 'What?' I said, 'I haven't done that.' 'Yes, you have. Drinking and sleeping with old ladies…' That wasn't me… I was thinking, 'What is this fella on about? Who's told him I've been sleeping with grannies? Has he got me mixed up with one of my team-mates?' In the end, I just had to accept it. 'Yeah, all right,' I said. 'It won't happen again...'"
Capello's Departure and Carroll's Career
Capello eventually stepped down from his role in early 2012, after disagreeing with the Football Association's decision to strip Terry of the team captaincy. Carroll, meanwhile, was selected to represent the Three Lions at Euro 2012 by new manager Roy Hodgson, scoring a powerful header during the group stage win over Sweden. He earned a total of nine caps for England, most of which came in 2012, scoring two goals.
