England manager would like to have been a pilot

Fabio Capello made his professional football debut as an eighteen-year-old, and has been a key figure in the beautiful game ever since. Had he not discovered his talent for kicking a piece of leather, and subsequent talent for telling other people how to kick a piece of leather, the manager would have taken an entirely different career path.

He told the Italian edition of Marie Claire:

‘If I had not become a footballer, I would have flown Boeings. Football is just a job to me. The three things I could not give up are my own home, my family and travelling.’

While a career in flying for the military would probably be unlikely for a man who needs to wear glasses, it would not be a problem for a commercial pilot flying Boeings. A career in the airline industry would also have helped Capello avoid the shine of the media spotlight. While he may enjoy the benefits of fame, being an anonymous citizen would have made it much easier to keep his penchant for massive tax evasion under wraps.

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Dutch manager clobbered by Italian taxman - will be looking for proper job soon

Marco van Basten may this morning be regretting having been such a phenomenal player in the late eighties and early nineties. As goalscorer-in-chief for arguably the best ever Milan side, Marco saw his bank accounts fill like Olympic swimming pools. Then he did his leg in, stopped playing and took all his lovely money back to Holland.

When the Italian bureaucrat responsible for monitoring Mr van Basten’s tax contribution got round to examining his file, he found the numbers didn’t quite tally, so called him up and said, “Mr van Basten, you owe us four million euros.”

Mr van Basten said, “I am in Holland now,” so the persistent Italian called the Dutch tax authorities, and together they