GOOD RIDDANCE TO WAGS

ENGLAND boss Fabio Capello has dumped the WAGS circus which once surrounded the national team and that can only be a good thing, says stand-in skipper Rio Ferdinand.

Ferdinand, who will lead England in Belarus tonight, tore into the celebrity culture that peaked during the 2006 World Cup finals when the squad stayed at Baden-Baden and were famously accompanied by their wives and girlfriends.

The Manchester United centre half also took a swipe at Steve McClaren's reign - where the boss wanted to appear pals with Wazza (Wayne Rooney) and Stevie G (Gerrard) - by insisting there is no room for friendship with the manager.

Ferdinand, who knows victory in Minsk tonight will give England their best start to a World Cup qualifying campaign, said: "We became a bit of a circus, if I'm honest, in terms of the whole WAG situation.

"It seems like there was a big show around the whole England squad.

"It was like watching a theatre unfolding and football almost became a secondary element to the main event.

"People were worrying more about what people were wearing and where they were going, rather than the England football team.

"That then transposed itself into the team. This regime is very water-tight.

"If I'm honest, it feels as if we're going in the right direction.

"I don't want to speak too soon, but you can see we're at the start of something and, hopefully, there'll be bigger rewards than what we've had in the past."

Focus

Ferdinand always preferred to stay at the hotel rather than get photographed in Baden-Baden - but he admits it was easy to get caught up in it.

"That's said in hindsight," he admitted. "You were caught up in the bubble.

"Being somewhere like Baden-Baden, walking around the town, there were paparazzi everywhere and we were among journalists as well, our families were there.

"When you step back and look back at that, you think like it was a circus."

After reaching the quarter-finals in Germany, England did not even reach Euro 2008 under McClaren.

Ferdinand has felt a significant shift in focus since Capello has taken over and guided them to their 100% start in Group Six - comparing the current regime to the club mentality that has served English teams so well in the Champions League recently.

"It's a very professional regime," he said. "Very result-orientated. Very much like a lot of our clubs. The results come a long way before the performances."

Ferdinand feels there is a healthy distance between the players and Capello, an authority that was illustrated by the Italian holding a team meeting and methodically going through the mistake that led to Kazakhstan scoring in the 5-1 win on Saturday.

Friends

Ferdinand said: "Do you really know any managers? I don't know the real Fergie (Sir Alex Ferguson). When he comes to football, he's probably a totally different person to when he's at home with his wife and grandchildren.

"That doesn't matter. They're not here to be buddies, talk about old times or be great friends. They're here to win football matches."

Capello has important decisions before facing Belarus, with Wayne Bridge in line to replace Ashley Cole at left-back.

Ferdinand deputises as captain for John Terry, who was replaced by Matthew Upson for the Kazakhstan win.

Whether Steven Gerrard is retained has also been a recent topic that has divided public opinion.

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