Revealed: Joyless regime that sucked the life out of England's World Cup

England players are in full-scale rebellion over the strict 43-day boot camp which undermined Fabio Capello's doomed World Cup campaign.

Since joining up for the pre-tournament training camp in Austria, many of England's players struggled under Capello's strict regime.

His old-school approach left players bored, stale, unhappy and believing the 64-year-old Italian is even out of touch with modern methods.

And former England striker Alan Shearer, now a BBC TV pundit, said last night: “I looked on the pitch and they are not happy players. It was not a happy camp.”

England supporters may struggle to have much sympathy with multi-millionaire footballers whingeing after blowing a glorious chance to win the World Cup.

But the players were left complaining that an unhappy, disaffected camp cannot make a successful squad and that is one of the reasons behind England's failure.

Capello even appeared to try to address the problem last week as he offered players a beer before the Slovenia game and then also the Germany game.

But the players thought that was a laughable attempt to keep them onside, it came too little, too late and they all turned it down because, they claim, they would never drink a drop the night before a Premier League game.

It was also seen as something of an admission on Capello's part that John Terry's outspoken attack on life inside the luxury Royal Bafokeng training camp had credibility.

England defender Terry was given a very public dressing down by Capello for going public on the dissent in the ranks and the need for it to be addressed in team meetings.

Capello also said Terry made a “big mistake” in singling out Joe Cole for special praise as he pushed his former Chelsea team mate’s claims for a starting place.

But while Terry was painted as the villain last week, as time goes by, Capello’s own regime will come under increasing scrutiny and it is something the FA will be looking at closely as they review the manager’s position in the next fortnight.

The boot camp’s strict rules on training, diets, players being given a strict timetable for bed time, rest, free time and even a code of conduct at meal times with a ban on mobile phones, players arriving and leaving together.

Many of them found it like being back at school and a step back in time that they weren’t used to under Sven Goran Eriksson’s relaxed regime and Steve McClaren’s lame attempts to be too “matey.”

They were not allowed to speak up at team meetings as Capello gagged players from talking and putting across their views when they assembled nine days ago following Terry’s press conference in which he said matters needed to be addressed.

Terry and other players - including Frank Lampard and David James - had got together over a beer with the manager’s blessing after the disastrous Algeria game to have a players’ summit.

The key issues were that not enough work was being done on the opposition, they wanted a change in formation, and frustration at being locked away in their rooms for hours on end at the Royal Bafokeng training base.

But Capello blocked players from speaking up and did not appear to listen to several senior players when they approached him about changing the old fashioned 4-4-2 system to accommodate Wayne Rooney as a lone striker.

Terry, Lampard and Rooney all spoke to the manager individually to push for a tactical switch to a 4-5-1 which would have seen Rooney play up on his own as he does for Manchester United and Steven Gerrard behind in a more central role.

But Capello, while insisting he would consider it, stuck resolutely to his favoured 4-4-2 which many of the players believe is hopelessly outdated in international football.

That caused frustration within the ranks but Terry may now feel he was hung out to dry after speaking up and Capello’s coaching staff have also suggested privately that the Chelsea defender was not properly mentally prepared for the Germany game.

Terry will be furious at those accusations and Rooney will be upset to hear of suggestions from within the England set-up that he was well below-par in training.

The unrest and dissent was exposed by Terry, denied by Capello and yet it did seem to bring about a change in his mindset and management philosophy.

Suddenly, players were offered a beer the night before a game, a BBQ with Zulu dancers was organised last Thursday night, the players were given more time off to see friends and family or play golf.

But it was too little too late to address the problems from within Camp Capello and, ultimately, the players were left unhappy, disaffected and unsuccessful in South Africa.