(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-15 22:09

MILAN - New England manager Fabio Capello has said the job will be his last in football and acknowledged he has a tough task ahead of him.

The 61-year-old Italian was appointed on Friday and succeeds Steve McClaren, who was sacked last month after England failed to qualify for Euro 2008.

"This is the final crowning of my career. It would be very nice to finish in the best way," Capello told Rai television on Saturday.

Capello, who won a title with all four of the clubs he managed, has been working as a commentator for Rai since being sacked by Real Madrid in June despite winning the Spanish title.

"This is another challenge which is part of (a manager's) job but this challenge will be slower and more complicated because I must study more than if I was a league manager," he said.

"We want to do very well and there is a big expectation around and I think that with my team (of assistants) we will achieve great objectives."

The former AC Milan, AS Roma and Juventus coach will bring four Italian staff members with him to the England job and hinted the Football Association wanted a European coach having held talks with Portugal's former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho.

"Mourinho is Mediterranean like me, a Mediterranean in England," he added as he acknowledged former Italy coach Marcello Lippi and ex-Germany boss Juergen Klinsmann had been in the frame.

"It was just an honour to be in this group," he said.

Asked if world champions Italy should now be scared of England, he said: "Yes we will be competitors because we will try to do our best."