Beckham 'too old' for England

Fabio Capello appeared to end David Beckhams long international career last night when questioned about his place in the new set-up. Keen to emphasise the new blood in the England squad, Capello was seen to be agreeing with the view that Beckham is too old to win his place back in the team.

Of course, the fact that Beckham is past his very best is not in question, but it seems to me that there are two observations to be made about the Capellos comments:

• With Beckham recovering from injury, not present at the press conference and obviously not informed in advance - this was not the time or place to publicly 'retire' the most capped outfield player that England has ever had. Capello still displays a lack of tact and diplomacy, an attitude that seems to have had a telling effect on the England squad of late.
• Age seems to have been Capellos prime criteria rather than ability, this implies that a younger less-talented or gifted individual would get the nod before Beckham simply because of his age. Maybe Capello thought that saying Beckham was old was kinder than saying he wasn't playing at his best, but to be fair, no-one knows how well Beckham is going to play when he has recovered from his injury - Capellos timing is atrocious when you consider the lengths Beckham will be prepared to go to in order to serve his team and country.

Capello survived World Cup failure, and frankly, I was glad to see him retain his position - whether he will survive treating Beckham like this is another matter...