Hartmann Online: Heading home in shame: England's flops return to face the music... but will Capello fall on his £6m-a-year sword?

Fabio Capello faced growing calls to stand down today as his humiliated England team prepared to fly home after their disastrous World Cup campaign. The manager, who earns £6million a year, is set to face the media today before holding crisis talks with his Football Association employers in the wake of yesterday's embarrassing 4-1 thrashing by Germany. Some fans continued to blame the referee Jorge Larrionda for the outcome of the match after he disallowed Frank Lampard's would-be equaliser. It emerged today the Uruguayan was said to be aghast when shown a replay of the goal, gasping 'Oh my God!'

But most of the fans' anger was today laid at Capello's door as the Italian faced a growing clamour to fall on his sword. Pundit Alan Hansen branded England's performance as 'abysmal'. 'If you look at the back four, the midfield, the attackers, the system and the manager.

Every aspect was rock bottom,' he said. 'The basics, the fundamentals weren't there. I think he (Capello) will go.' His BBC colleague Lee Dixon added: 'Frankly it was the worst team performance defensively I have ever seen, and if that's the case you will get a hiding. The Germans deserve credit as they were a much better team. It was awful. 'I have never seen a group of defenders dragged around a field like that.

We were ripped to pieces.' Sky Sports pundit Andy Gray suggested Alan Shearer or David Beckham would be good candidates for the England manager's job. 'I look at all the great nations in world football, the ones who are at this World Cup,' he said. 'The Brazilians, the Argentinians, the Dutch, the Spanish. Even the Italians and French who are great footballing nations.

Dejected: John Terry and ambassador David Beckham leave the ground<br /> on the team coach after their defeat

Dejected: John Terry and ambassador David Beckham leave the ground on the team coach after their defeat

Let down: England skipper Steven Gerrard looks dejected on the <br />team bus last night

Let down: England skipper Steven Gerrard looks angry on the team bus last night

'Do any of them want or have a foreigner as a coach? The simple answer is no.

'I don't buy into the fact that England need a foreigner. There are many examples of English managers. 'Why not try an Alan Shearer? Or even a David Beckham?

Men who decide Fab's future

Dave Richards: Club England chairman
Trevor Brooking: FA director of football
Alex Horne: Acting FA chief executive
Adrian Bevington: Club England managing director
Cost of sacking him: £12m

'David Beckham was at the World Cup, he's sat there and learnt, and been with the boys. Maybe he's too close to the boys to be the next England coach but surely we should be looking at someone like that.' Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp also backed the appointment of an English manager to coach the national side - and revealed he would be more than happy to step up to the plate.

He told TalkSport: 'They (the FA) have got a manager and until he’s not the manager it’s difficult to talk about it. But I’m English, who wouldn’t want to manage England? 'There’s not an Englishman - whether it’s me, Roy Hodgson or Sam Allardyce - who would turn the job down because it’s our country and we want to manage our country.

'No one is ever going to turn that job down. If you’re English you cannot not want to manage your country.' He added: 'Could you imagine an Englishman managing the Italian national team? It doesn’t happen. 'The Germans are the same, they have a German manager. We’ve ended up with two foreign managers. 'This guy (Capello) has a fantastic record at club level. But look, we’ve had a go with it now.

When he finally moves on, in four years or whatever, surely there has to be a young guy or somebody in this country, surely we have to find a manager from England, an English manager. 'I’m not talking about a Scottish manager or an Irish manager, I’m talking about an English manager because this is where we’re from, this is our country.

Prime Minister David Cameron, sitting alongside German Chancellor <br />Angela Merkel, simply can't watch as England concede defeat

Feeling blue: David Cameron said he was 'gutted' at the result after breaking away from the G20 summit in Toronto to watch the game. By unhappy coincidence, he was joined in front of the TV by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who apologised to him after admitting Lampard's over-the-line shot should have been a goal

'We should be able to produce someone who can manage the England football team and let’s be honest, they can’t do any worse than what they’ve (Ericsson and Capello) done.' Redknapp was also critical of the players’ performances. He said: 'We were average against the USA. We were disgusting against Algeria. We were better against Slovenia, but what a poor team they were.

They’d be lucky to survive in the Championship.' As Capello appeared at a press conference after the match, one furious England fan summed up the national mood as he shouted at him: 'I paid £5,000 to come and watch the team you put out here and they were useless. 'You should be ashamed of yourself as manager.'

Bookmakers William Hill slashed the odds on Capello being sacked to 7/4 as fans leaving the stadium and big screens put up around England said it was time for him to go.

But Capello insisted that he would not quit despite the team's woeful performance.

Asked directly if it was time to go, the 64-year-old Italian said: 'Absolutely not.'

He was today preparing to fly home for urgent talks with Club England chairman Sir David Richards to decide his future, adding: 'I need to know whether the FA have confidence in me or not.'

Wayne Rooney complains to referee Jorge Larrionda about <br />disallowing Lampard's goal during the Germany clash

Wayne Rooney complains to referee Jorge Larrionda about disallowing Lampard's goal during the Germany clash

But before he boards his flight he will hold a press conference, at which he is expected to offer some clarity over his future.

Club England managing director Adrian Bevington said, in his opinion, 'nothing had changed'.

Capello's refusal means the FA could be left with a £12million payout if it decides to axe Capello after an extraordinary decision to renegotiate his £6million-a-year contract five weeks ago, removing a clause which would allow either party to terminate the contract after the World Cup.

Shamed England players slunk away from the stadium amid severe criticism for their lacklustre performance.

Midfielder Joe Cole said the squad needs to address 'a lot of issues' following their disastrous campaign, adding that the warning signs had been flashing before the team arrived in South Africa.

'We weren't good enough from the start of the friendlies, the six games we've played,' said the 28-year-old.

'There are a lot of issues. We have such high expectations. We want to win the tournament and we didn't do that.

'We do feel we have let ourselves down, the manager and the fans. I don't want to go into tactics. I am just disappointed and apologise to the England fans who travelled out here.'

But Matthew Upson, who scored in the first half of the match against Germany, was less apologetic.

'It is very difficult to analyse all these games and give a reason why X, Y and Z happened,' he said.
'I don't know. I can't explain the performances. But I don't think they have all been as bad as what we are talking about.'

SO WHAT NOW FOR ENGLAND?

Today: press conference in Rustenburg. Capello, whose future is now in doubt, will appear before media at 1.30pm.
This evening: fly home from South Africa, arriving tomorrow.
Aug 11: First international date of new season. England due to play home friendly against Hungary.
Sept 3: England face opening Euro 2012 qualifier against Bulgaria at Wembley. Lampard's disallowed goal came a minute after England had pulled back the score to 2-1 following two early goals by the Germans. The Chelsea player's shot hit the bar before dropping and clearly crossing the German goalline.

Linesman Mauricio Espinosa - also from Uruguay - did not give the goal and his compatriot Larrionda waved play on. Their mistake was so bad that German Chancellor Angela Merkel even apologised to Prime Minister David Cameron as they watched the game together at the G20 summit in Toronto, Canada.

The incident brought back memories of England's crucial third goal in the 1966 World Cup final scored by Geoff Hurst against Germany. But Lampard appeared to accept the referee's decision with good grace - at least while he was on the pitch. As he swapped shirts with Bastian Schweinsteiger after the match, the Germany player apologised to the midfielder, adding: 'It should have been a goal'. Lampard replied: 'Don't worry... just one of those things.' Later, however, Lampard called for the use of goal-line technology.

The sequence which will leave England fans burning with resentment for decades: German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer sees Frank Lampard's shot bounce off the crossbar and over the line before he grabs the ball and continues play

No goal: Lampard's 39th-minute effort wasn't given, despite <br />clearly being over the line

No goal: Lampard's 39th-minute effort wasn't given, despite clearly being over the line

'We had a meeting before the World Cup when we were told about a million different rule changes that hardly affect the game,' he said.

'The big one, the one that affects the game today, hasn't been brought in so it is a no-brainer.

'It was a clear goal - 40,000 knew it and I knew it, but there were two people that didn't,' he added. 'It certainly affected the game and we're bitterly disappointed.' Today Larrionda refused to comment when asked by a Fifa volunteer if he knew the goal should have been allowed. The controversial referee and his assitant Mauricio Espinosa were passing through the airport in Bloemfontein when Charlotte Molakeng, 22 - who normally welcomes fans to the airport - quizzed him.

She said: 'I just asked if he knew there was a goal. But I got no comment, just a smile.

'I just had to see if he knew. I think he might be worried about it.' She said the officials were 'very friendly' and gave her a pin badge as a token of thanks for her work before they were escorted through to departures by two security officials. She added: I was stressed. I really wanted to ask him that question. I was just curious. But I thought I'm not going to get a reply. 'I saw his teeth - it was a wide smile. He was not expecting that kind of question. He was surprised by it. I just wish he had answered.'

No hard feelings: Bastian Schweinsteiger, left, apologises to <br />Frank Lampard for his disallowed goal as they swap shirts at the end of <br />the match

No hard feelings: Bastian Schweinsteiger, left, apologises to Frank Lampard for his disallowed goal as they swap shirts at the end of the match Today Mr Cameron also threw his weight behind calls for the use of video technology in football, saying he was 'very disappointed' to see England go out of the World Cup. At a press conference at the end of the G20 summit in Toronto, Mr Cameron suggested that the use of cameras to help referees judge tough decisions should be considered. 'I do think that the use of technology in sport can be a bonus,' said the PM. 'I'm a keen follower of cricket and tennis and I think the third umpire has been a great thing and the machines that bleep at Wimbledon are quite handy too.

'Maybe that's something that football could now have a look at.' But the Prime Minister declined to comment on whether England should now be looking for a new manager.

'I felt very disappointed, but it is not for me to choose the England manager,' said Mr Cameron. 'We can just reflect that Germany played very well and we have some questions to ask.

'Everyone in the country will be disappointed with the result, but these things happen. At least with a scoreline like that we can't say we were robbed. We weren't. We were beaten.'

As Mr Cameron made his comments, the England flag flying over Downing Street was being taken down. Number 10 confirmed that the flag - ordered to be raised by Mr Cameron in a bid to unite the nation behind the team - was lowered 'early this morning' andhas been replaced by the traditional Union Flag.

Darren Fincham, 40, a drainage contractor from Banstead in Surrey, described England's World Cup participation as 'abject failure'. 'We never showed up in this World Cup,' he said. 'They ripped us apart and went straight through us.

'I expected more from this rabble.' Fan Damien Masham, 26, a window cleaner from Peterborough, said: 'I'm absolutely devastated. They perform at club level but when it comes to internationals they look like a Sunday league side. His friend Darren Garner, 26, a digger driver from Peterborough, added: 'They just don't seem to have the heart. 'We're supposed to be Three Lions. We looked old and useless. They looked young and fresh.' Sports minister Hugh Robertson joined in the chorus of frustration and called for the use of technology to prevent subsequent goal blunders.

Shock: Festival-goers at Glastonbury took time out from the live <br />music to support England

Fans: Festival-goers at Glastonbury took time out from the live music to support England - but it was all in vain

Defeat: The crushing disappointment is clear as football fans in Bristol watch the score go from bad to worse

Downcast: England fans in Queens Square, Bristol watching the fateful game

Blown it: An England fan looks on dejected at the final whistle

He said: 'This was a disappointing end to a tournament in which England hardly ever performed. 'Once the dust has settled, I hope the FA take a long hard look at the reasons why, and Fifa reassess their opposition to using goal-line technology.' As the teams left the field at half time, a clearly angry David Beckham waited for the officials and motioned with his arms apart just how far Lampard's ball had crossed the line. William Hill said it would pay out to customers who bet on Lampard scoring against Germany. The match drew an average TV audience of 17.8 million, the BBC said.

But that figure peaked at 19.5 million as Germany grabbed their third and fourth goals in a matter of minutes to extend their lead and dash England's dreams.

Motorways emptied and shopping centres across England were transformed into ghost towns as all eyes turned to South Africa. At the Glastonbury Festival, 50,000 revellers turned their backs on the bands to pack into a field where the match was shown. Thousands more congregated at special fan parks, including 13,500 in Castlefield, Manchester, and 7,000 in Queen Square, Bristol.

Falling out of the tournament will be a blow not just to fans but to the economy. But the consolation for England's followers was that at least they didn't lose to Argentina in the next round.