ST. ALBANS, England — Fabio Capello is living up to his reputation as a no-nonsense disciplinarian, and his England players better get used to it.
The Italian, preparing for his first game as England coach, said Tuesday he has imposed a tough set of rules on his millionaire stars and expects them to stay in line.
"We are professionals," said Capello, who had standout success with the four clubs he has coached. "We love this job and I believe that we also have some obligations towards fans and I think we need rules to work by and we need to work in an orderly fashion."
Capello, who was hired to replace Steve McClaren after England failed to qualify for the 2008 European Championship, will be in charge for the friendly against Switzerland at Wembley on Wednesday. His job is to turn underachieving England into a legitimate challenger for the 2010 World Cup.
"We work together for not very many days compared with when players are with their clubs," Capello said at a news conference. "I think if we follow rules we create a group and we create a specific winning mentality which is what I want."
A relaxed training camp atmosphere in which players played golf and were joined by their wives and girlfriends — known as WAGS — was partly blamed for England’s lack of discipline at major tournaments.
This is the first time the players have been together under Capello, and they say he’s strict on punctuality and insists they have breakfast and lunch together to built team unity.
The players are reportedly not allowed to wear flip-flops at their hotel or carry mobile phones outside their rooms. Capello will call the players by their last names, in a break with previous coaches who used first names and nicknames.
"If people are amazed at having these rules then presumably they were not used to them," said Capello, who spoke only in Italian through a translator despite efforts to improve his English. "We all have rules to follow in our job and I believe we have got to have rules and respect them — all of us."
Capello, who left David Beckham off the team and is without regular captain John Terry through injury, announced that Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard would lead the team against the Swiss.
"Steven is important for all the players because he can transmit things and pass on things and inspire players," Capello said.
However, Capello said he doesn’t plan to name a permanent captain until England’s first 2010 World Cup qualifier against Andorra in September.
"We have only just started working," he said. "Our objective is form a group that will gel together and that is to be achieved before our first game against Andorra.
"These last two days we worked very hard on the technical front, analyzing and watching videos all of this in order to create a group mentality and more importantly a way of moving on the pitch that reflects my ideas about football."
Capello has won titles with AC Milan, AS Roma, Juventus and Real Madrid. Gerrard said he was impressed by the Italian’s winning mentality.
"As players you want to win and, whatever it takes, you do it," Gerrard said. "I’ve seen teams throughout my football career who are very good to watch . . . but they don’t win.
"If I had the choice, I would certainly rather play for a team that is more difficult to beat but maybe is not as good on the eye. If I went on to achieve something with England, with a team that was a bit more defensive and won matches, I’d happily take that option now."