The FA had been confident the website would be removed from the internet by the end of today.

But it was still available to view by early evening, with the delay in taking it down said to be due to technical issues.

Error messages appeared at times on www.capelloindex.com but it remained possible to view the rankings, which England boss Capello demanded be deleted on Saturday.

As they have no involvement with the site, the FA are powerless to expedite its removal, with Capello's own representatives having been working to ensure it is taken down since it went live on Saturday.

One thing the FA were able to do today was ensure the Italian would have no involvement with the Index while he remains England manager.

Club England managing director Adrian Bevington told the FA's official website, www.thefa.com: "After the developments of the weekend, this will not happen while Fabio is England manager.

"We have been consistent with this view, but managed sensitively.

"However, as has been made clear, Fabio had absolutely no involvement in the ratings that have appeared from the World Cup and did not give his name or approval to them."

The website went live in the early hours of Saturday morning, with Capello claiming it had done so without his approval or knowledge.

The rankings proved to be particularly critical of the Italian's own players after their disappointing display at the World Cup.

The Capello Index was set up by the England manager and business partner Chicco Merighi to publicly rank players' performances in South Africa.

It was shelved until after the tournament amid fears it could create a rift between the Italian and his squad.

Meanwhile, Capello's son has apologised on behalf of the England manager for the controversy the rankings have created.

According to The Daily Star, Capello's son Pierfilippo, who acts as his father's agent, said: "Fabio is very sorry and upset this has happened.

"Like me also, he is sorry for his relationship with the FA because we had told them that there would not be any ratings appearing on any of the England players."

He added: "There is no commercial value in this to Fabio - he was just interested to see and compare how the statistics would compare with his own evaluations.

"These are not Fabio's ratings, so there is no reason why we would have to explain anything to the players in terms of trying to regain any trust.

"We are now looking to have his name removed from the title."

Although the website remained active, its creators tonight sought to clarify the nature of its ratings system, insisting Capello had no direct input into the scores given to players.

A statement on the site's homepage read: "Fabio Capello contributed, with his indisputable knowledge and experience, in the laying down of the foundations of this project.

"A team of professors and experts in mathematical and statistical calculations then went on to create the system used in order to generate the ratings.

"The Capello Index cannot, and must not, be summarised as 'The vote given by Capello' to the players but is the result of a system which is capable of analysing and evaluating the actual performance adding various scientific variables."

It added: "As far as the evaluation of the performance of the players in the South African World Cup is concerned, we would like to clarify that Fabio Capello did not contribute in the formulation of the results now available online."