Italy's Fabio Capello promised to learn English within a month on Monday as he was presented to British journalists in his new role as England coach.
The 61-year-old Italian manager, facing the full force of the British media spotlight for the first time, gave a brief intro in broken English, saying how ''honoured'' he was to be given the job.
''In a month I'll speak English,'' he told journalists through a translator. ''I'll study every day until I'm capable of communicating with the players''.
Capello learned Spanish to coach Real Madrid, one of the four clubs he has coached and led to championship titles.
He is bringing four Italian assistants with him to tackle the England job and London newspapers have suggested that the first thing he needs to do is learn English.
The Football Association is pushing Capello to bring an Englishman into his staff and this will reportedly be England under-21 coach Stuart Pearce.
Capello said that getting the England bench was ''a dream come true'' and that he had wanted the job ''for a long time''.
With British reporters anxious to hear how he would steer the national team to greatness, he voiced confidence in its prospects but gave away few details of his tactical plans.
''That will depend on the players. You have to be flexible,'' he said.
According to soccer pundits in Italy, the former AC Milan, AS Roma and Juventus coach moulds teams which are well organised tactically, highly cohesive and ruthlessly effective.
The Italian, whose first match in charge will be a friendly against Switzerland at Wembley in February, avoided being pinned down on whether he would pick former England captain David Beckham.
Capello was reluctant to use Beckham last year when both were at Real Madrid and this was one of the reasons that pushed the England star to move to LA Galaxy.
''I had a stormy relationship with Beckham at Real but he proved to be a great player. I have no prejudice against him. If he deserves to play in the national team, he will be called up''.
The 32-year-old Beckham has said that, assuming England qualify, he wants to be part of the team that goes to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup finals.
Asked how he would feel if England ended up playing Italy in the 2010 final, Capello said it ''wouldn't be bad''.
''My dream has always been to coach England. I have never wanted to coach Italy,'' he added, without explaining why.
Despite his claim to have no interest in the Italy job, Capello's appointment as England coach is a source of enormous satisfaction for Italians.
AC Milan chairman and former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi said he was ''full of pride that the home of soccer should turn to an Italian''.
''This means that, in the world of soccer today, Italy is considered number one''.
