After a meeting with senior figures within the Football Association yesterday, Capello took drastic action to quell the storm of protest that erupted over the controversial website, which Capello put his name to on Monday and was using a blueprint laid down by the Italian to assess players' performances in South Africa.

The potential for disharmony in the camp as players, in theory, discovered what Capello had made of their performances in World Cup matches needed to be pointed out, which triggered instant action from the Italian.

However, the furore will erupt again next season if the plan is resurrected given the 'Capello Index' has a licence to operate in the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A.

"Fabio Capello's involvement has been purely as a technical expert to establish statistical criteria for the Index," a spokesmen for Capello outlined.

"He has not been directly involved in the online gaming element of the site.

"However, he wants to ensure that all appropriate protocols are in place before the project proceeds and has therefore decided today to postpone it."

Capello was quizzed about the wisdom of his name being associated with the venture as he unveiled his 30-man provisional World Cup squad at Wembley yesterday.

However, he clearly feels the matter has been dealt with and wishes to let it lie.

"I read what people wrote but I prefer not to comment," he said.

"I know what I had to do. We decided what we had to do. That's it, finished."

It might not be quite that simple of course given Capello's contract runs to 2012.

However, as there is a month between the World Cup final and England's first international of the 2010-11 season, there is an obvious opportunity to sort the matter out on a more permanent basis.

"We are committed to Fabio Capello after the World Cup but we had to remove any controversy about the World Cup," said an FA spokesman.

"We have done that for a few months. Now we can talk to the people involved in the project and Fabio can get on with looking after the team."