England boss Fabio Capello snubbed the U19's run to the European Championship semifinals last month.

The 64-year-old Italian refused to bow to pressure from his FA employers to attend last week's European Under-19 Championship in France because he claimed his presence would have been no more than a publicity stunt.

A source close to Capello told the Mail on Sunday: "The FA asked Fabio if he was interested in going to the tournament, but he wasn't going to attend just because they wanted him to. If it had been the Under-21s, he might have felt that his place was at the tournament. But he wasn't going to go and watch the 17- or 18-year-olds, because he felt the only reason would have been for publicity.

"Fabio is aware that he will be criticised whatever he does as England manager because that is part of the job. His reasoning is that if these youngsters are good enough to make a quick breakthrough at senior international level, then they will be playing Premier League football for their clubs. Otherwise it is a question of keeping an eye on them over the next two years to see how they progress."