Emile Heskey has become the latest former England player to have his say on Fabio Capello's controversial time in charge - but unlike many of his former team-mates he has defended the Italian.
England suffered humiliation under Capello's charge at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The Three Lions were eliminated after a 4-1 defeat by Germany but the lead-up to that was just as embarrassing and included turgid team performances, individual errors, and a Wayne Rooney rant at his own fans for booing the team.
Capello bore the brunt of criticism for the flop at the time and now, 10 years on, some of the England players have spoken again of their loathing of his disciplinarian style.
But Heskey, who was in the 2010 World Cup squad, believes players were looking for excuses for their poor performances in South Africa, highlighting one long-held gripe - the ban on ketchup and butter at team meals.
'I didn't mind Capello's style of management and a lot of the time it comes down to excuses,' Heskey said.
'That's my view. If you take butter away from someone and they let it eat them up then that's their problem.
'It's true. That should not be a hindrance to going out there and performing. That's your problem and it's just excuses to moan about butter, ketchup or chips.
'He was a disciplinarian, he was strict, and he was very strong in how he spoke.
'Sometimes that can rub people up the wrong way. But to complain about butter… at the end of the day I grew up in an era when managers were in people's faces.
'I was 16 when I was in changing rooms with the pros.'
England lost 4-1 to Germany in the last-16 of the 2010 World Cup but details about Capello's regime behind the scenes raised eyebrows.
'You English eat too much bread,' Capello told his backroom staff as he explained his plans for their Rustenburg training base. Capello insisted there would be no butter on the tables.
'If there is no butter, then the players won't eat so much,' he said. To the players' consternation, ketchup was banned too.
Capello reopened old wounds when he recently referred to England's goalkeeper at the time, David James, as 'Calamity' in an interview.
When England played the United States in the opening game in 2010, poor handling from then first-choice goalkeeper Rob Green saw Clint Dempsey's feeble effort beat him, leading to a poor 1-1 draw.
That left Capello with no choice but to make a change in goal, but admitted he was only persuaded to introduce 'Calamity' James because of the defence's superior faith in him than the inexperienced Joe Hart.
'You can't say anything. Everyone makes mistakes,' Capello told The Guardian.
'He [Green] made one, so I changed. I put in Calamity James.
'I had Green and I had [Joe] Hart, just a kid. I asked the players. Hart or Calamity? "Calamity." I put Calamity in because of the players' trust.'
Those comments have been widely condemned by former England players.
Joe Cole has accused Capello of never fully committing to the England manager's job and has branded the Italian 'disrespectful' for calling James 'Calamity'.
'That's wrong,' Cole said.
'I wouldn't consider myself in the bracket of senior players who maybe had the manager's ear with things like that. But I just think that's disrespectful to Jamo to say that.
'You can have a valid footballing reason for talking about someone, if you can back it up. For instance, when I talk about Fabio I think of a legend of a game, a great manager, I just think: was he fully committed to the England national team during that spell?'
'We just weren't good enough. I don't want to make excuses. That Germany team went on to win the World Cup (four years later).
'And we weren't good enough at the time – we had injuries, you can't point fingers just at the manager, as footballers we just weren't good enough to do it.'
The Italian was considered among the finest coaches in the world when England appointed him in 2007. He pocketed around £6million a year but was criticised for not mastering the language or leaving a lasting legacy.
Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster has explained how Capello's treatment led to the keeper withdrawing from England duty, accusing the Italian of being disrespectful.
'I just didn't feel like Capello showed me any respect whatsoever,' he told Peter Crouch's podcast.
'I had just had my second boy, I was actually on international duty, my wife was pregnant up north in Manchester and she rang me in the morning and said her waters had broke, and I remember going to see Fabio and saying "I think my wife's in labour" and he said "we've got training in half an hour".'
Read the full 888sport interview with Emile Heskey here