For a reporter, Fabio Capello was a great England coach. He couldn’t lie. True, his famously poor English was often exaggerated. Capello knew all the important words, for coaching. He knew enough to get by.
What he didn’t have was command of the language. And that is what makes a good liar.
Capello didn’t have enough English to dissemble, to cloud his words, to deploy nuance, to work the room. Straight questions therefore got straight answers. It was beautiful.
This much was apparent on day one. The Football Association arranged for Capello to meet the press, one from each newspaper, informally around the lunch table.