Fabio Capello stunned England's reeling players by gagging them at what was supposed to be a clear-the-air meeting.

He had been expected to allow his squad to have their say over Friday's dismal performance against Algeria, which left a group of nine seeking widespread changes.

But instead the England coach told players they could not voice their opinions on what was wrong. “Everyone had gone to the meeting expecting to be able to have a frank chat about what could be done to put things right,” said a source close to the team.

“But Fabio made it plain straight away that was not going to happen. He stood up at the front of the room and made it clear to the players he would not tolerate any debate.

“He just stood there and said ‘nobody speak, nobody speak’. He told the players they would be watching the first half of the Algeria game then going for dinner and that was it.”

A group of nine players discussed concerns over a beer last Friday night. But having thought they would be heard, the players were stunned by Capello's stance.

They are all deeply unhappy about the regime they are being forced to endure at England's training base outside Rustenburg.

Terry revealed the players were himself, plus Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, Aaron Lennon, David James, Peter Crouch, Glen Johnson, Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard. They were hoping that Capello would use last night's meeting to say he was ready to compromise. They hoped the meeting would clear the air and lift the mood ahead of Wednesday's must-win game against Slovenia.

But Capello has never managed that way before and he made it plain he will not change now. It means that England will go into their crunch game still riven with tensions and deeply unhappy with his management style.

His stance last night followed on from John Terry risking a dressing- room split after revealing the players’ crisis meeting.

Terry now finds himself in a minority of players who believed it was right to go public with their unhappiness only for issues not to be raised last night.

The former skipper had said yesterday morning: “We are in a meeting with the manager, whether he starts it or finishes it, the players can say how they feel and if it upsets him then I’m on the verge of just saying: ‘you know what? So what? I’m here to win it for England’.”

One concession that Fabio will give to the players is that he will name his team well in advance, instead of making them wait until two hours before kick-off.