'WAGs circus' era ridiculed by Ferdinand

In an extraordinarily candid assessment of past failures and disappointments, Rio Ferdinand said yesterday that Fabio Capello had ended the "circus" that had blighted England's recent attempts to win a major trophy and launched an impassioned attack on the culture of WAGs (wives and girlfriends) that detracted from the last World Cup campaign.

The central defender, who, in the continued absence of the injured John Terry, will captain his country again this evening here in Belarus, praised Capello's "business-like approach" and admitted that this had been missing in the past when England had lacked professionalism to such an extent that the football became secondary.

Responding to a question about the failings of the team in past campaigns, Ferdinand said: "I think we got caught up in the whole... we became a bit of a celebrity in terms of the whole WAG situation. There was a big show around the whole England squad. It was like a theatre unfolding and football became a secondary element."

It was perhaps apt then that he was speaking in the Palace of the Republic here, Minsk's main concert hall, when he added: "People were worrying more about what people were wearing than the games. This regime is very watertight. If I'm honest, it feels as if we're going in the right direction.

"You can see we're at the start of something," he said, "and, hopefully, there'll be bigger rewards than what we've had in the past. That's said in hindsight."

Ferdinand recalled the regime and atmosphere in Germany in 2006. "We were in the bubble ourselves," the 29-year-old admitted. "In Baden-Baden [England's training base], walking around, there were paparazzi everywhere, our families were there. Looking back, it was like a circus.

"As a squad, we were a bit too open, going out in and around Baden-Baden, probably had too much contact with families. That's just my opinion. You're in a tournament and you don't get many tournaments in your career. You have to be focused. Not just the WAGs, but families being really close, us being close to you guys [the media], the paparazzi situation... it wasn't really separated from the football."

Admittedly, Ferdinand himself has been guilty of being embroiled in the celebrity culture in the past – not least through fronting ill-judged television programmes such as Rio's World Cup Wind-Ups – although, in fairness, he is less prone to the WAG industry and surrounding himself with relatives than other players and, in fact, spent much of his time in Germany shunning that.

After the failings of Steve McClaren, Sven Goran Eriksson and Kevin Keegan, who was also mentioned by Ferdinand for "saying we should wear our hearts on our sleeves", Capello is a stark contrast. "This squad's in a different frame of mind to ones I've been in before," Ferdinand said. "We've got a business-like state of mind, and that's come from the manager. It's a new regime with its own way of thinking.

"It's a very, very professional regime. Very result-orientated. Very much like a lot of our clubs. The results come a long way before the performances. That's been enhanced by the new regime. You see how he is on the training ground, in our meetings, that there's a winning mentality there. That's what he's putting over to the squad. This manager isn't shy of telling you what you're doing wrong. I just think that it was very much: 'I'm the boss and this is what is happening.' The lads warmed to that because that's what happens at the clubs.

"You need to be calm and compact. You have to do what's beneficial for the team. Making sliding tackles and running out of position isn't always good for the team. If it means a striker tracking back one of their full-backs to help out midfield, that's great. The team ethic is more important, not only on the pitch but in the hotel and in training."

The change in approach has been paying dividends. A victory tonight against the admittedly dangerous Belarusians and England will have made their best-ever start – with four wins from four matches – to a World Cup qualifying campaign and, although the performance against Kazakhstan on Saturday was less than convincing, the points total and goal difference in Group Six is.

Capello said there had been a "misunderstanding" in his distancing himself from the FA's attempts to keep England's proposed friendly with Spain from the Bernabeu Stadium following the racist abuse suffered by several players in 2004. The squad flew in yesterday afternoon with 20 fit players, having lost Terry, Ashley Cole and third goalkeeper Robert Green.

Three of the Under-21 side, Gabriel Agbonlahor, David Wheater and Joe Hart, will fly to Minsk this morning to gain experience of being part of the senior squad. If England do win their first meeting with Belarus, then the group, surely, belongs to them and with it qualification for South Africa.

Excess all areas: The bizarre realities of England's WAG culture

* At the 2006 World Cup, WAGs and families were pursued around Baden-Baden every night by the paparazzi as the small spa town became the focus for gossip reporters. Reportedly, screens put up at a hotel to maintain sunbathing WAGs' privacy were removed – at the request of said WAGs.

* Jamie Carragher subsequently revealed in his autobiography that, when staying in the Lowry Hotel in Manchester, Sven Goran Eriksson told single players not to pick up women from the bar but instead to "get their number and call them when you're not on England duty".

* Under Steve McClaren, the team's usual hotel, The Grove in Watford, was still open house to agents, family and friends. A "kiss and tell" on an England player appeared in a tabloid newspaper featuring a young woman who had been sent to The Grove to get players to sign shirts for a charity auction.

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