Almost a decade ago, two top-flight football managers, Sam Allardyce and Dave Bassett, had their hearts monitored during the course of important matches to measure stress levels and their respective reactions.

Allardyce, then at Bolton, saw his heart rate rise from 46 to 160 beats per minute as he barked out instructions and gesticulated wildly in an attempt to remind players of where they should be positioned when defending corners or free kicks.

At the same time, Leicester manager Bassett was unfortunate enough to see one of his players sent off, at which point his heart muscles contracted to such a degree that doctors likened the reaction to being involved in a severe car accident.

The response of each man’s heart highlighted how stressful football management could be.

Thankfully, the potentially dangerous longer term medical consequences of being employed as a head coach are now widely recognised.

Managers who remain at the very top of the game for long periods clearly possess exceptional tactical know-how, together with a metabolism capable of absorbing enormous pressure. In return, they’re extremely well remunerated. Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, for example, each enjoy salaries worth around £6 million a year.

While constant pressure is an integral part of football club management, it is a less regular companion for those managing national teams. Granted, national team managers must contend with the expectations and ambition of entire nations, as well as the occasional flouncing and moaning from a greater concentration of star players, but pay levels suggest that as such roles tend to be part time, managers cannot ordinarily expect to receive as much as their club counterparts. Except in England.

Prior to the release yesterday of FIFA’s latest international rankings the average salary paid to national managers at five of the globe’s top seven-ranked nations was £1.43 million.

For some unexplained reason, until his shock departure last week, Fabio Capello commanded as much as Messrs Ferguson and Wenger for being employed as England’s head coach, at best a part-time role.

Astonishingly, Capello earned £3 million a year more than the next highest-paid national team manager, a level of remuneration which has delivered qualification to one World Cup and one European Championship, but very little else.

On paper, Capello’s international record looks impressive. He was at England’s helm for 42 matches (at a rate of £523,000 per game), of which the team won 28 and lost just six.

Technically, this makes him the national team’s most successful coach, one able to boast a win percentage of 66.7%. Even Sir Alf Ramsey’s win record was only a shade over 61%, although he was in charge for almost three times as many matches.

Despite receiving a king’s ransom, Capello will be remembered more for his appreciation of fine art and an apparent unwillingness to learn English than for transforming the national football team.

The abysmal showing at the 2010 World Cup was an embarrassment, not as though that appeared to overly affect the urbane Capello – and perhaps there’s the rub.

Whenever England managers such as Kevin Keegan, Graham Taylor, Terry Venables or Sir Bobby Robson suffered a defeat, it clearly hurt. Capello, and Sven Goran-Eriksson before him, didn’t appear to care that much despite receiving financial rewards well beyond their respective international managerial capabilities.

So who is to blame for the astonishing waste of money which saw Capello and Eriksson earn an estimated £47 million between them following the appointment of the Swede in January 2001?

The blame, of course, lies squarely with the FA, a body renowned for commercial ineptitude on such a grandiose scale it could be a bank.

Instead of dictating terms, until FA chairman David Bernstein finally put his foot down last week, English football’s governing body suddenly became starry-eyed at the prospect of recruiting good club managers to oversee the national team.

Neither Eriksson nor Capello arrived with a radical blueprint for English football and neither left any lasting legacy other than a substantial hole in the FA’s accounts.

Capello’s departure marks yet another low for the FA and they must insist that whomever is appointed to lead England at the European Championships possesses the right attitude and temperament worthy of the still inflated salary they will have to pay the new man. Only a British-born manager will suffice.

The opportunity to appoint a genuinely top-class foreign manager, one of the calibre of proven coaches such as Guus Hiddink or Joachim Low has gone – or at least been sidelined for a generation.

There can be no more vague undertakings about learning English; there must be a preparedness to visit Newcastle or Sunderland on a wet Tuesday in November to watch prospective recruits to the national squad, but most of all, the incoming manager must possess a burning commitment to the role.

Fortunately, there is hope. The only person to emerge from the scruffy, shabby Capello resignation affair with his reputation enhanced is Bernstein.

The 68-year-old chartered accountant, appointed FA chairman 13 months ago, oversaw Manchester City’s revival after being recruited by Francis Lee in 1994 to head a campaign that saw the former City forward buy the club.

Bernstein was instrumental in raising £11 million via a rights issue in 1996 and two years later, he was appointed the club’s chairman.

It was he who negotiated the lease at the City of Manchester Stadium on favourable enough terms to persuade Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan to acquire Manchester City in 2008, although by then he had resigned following a disagreement with manager Kevin Keegan.

Last week, Bernstein was pragmatic enough to immediately accept Capello’s resignation and clever enough to ensure there are no further repercussions by approving a deal which saw the Italian leave with a pay-off believed to be worth around £1.25 million.

 The decks have been decisively cleared by the FA chairman who, one feels, has an element of commercial nous previously conspicuous by its absence at the game’s highest levels.

We’ve heard it before, but perhaps this time, England really can enjoy a fresh start…