Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has told the FA they are 'cheating' by employing a foreign manager of England.
As the players prepared to fly to Podgorica for Friday night's potentially conclusive Euro 2012 qualifier against Montenegro, Carragher, 33, claimed that having the national side coached by an Italian was 'embarrassing' for English football.
Carragher answered Fabio Capello's call last year and went to the World Cup in South Africa.
But he believes the rules that apply to the nationality of players should be extended to managers in the international game.
The Liverpool veteran said: 'If your manager's not good enough, that's your country's fault. Get a better manager. Do the coaching qualification better.
'I think it's a form of cheating at international football and it's a bit embarrassing. I've got nothing against Capello. I went with him to the World Cup and got to know him a little bit. But I just think that's what international football is.
The 33-year-old was persuaded to come out of international retirement by Capello to feature for England at last year's World Cup, but admitted that the Italian failed in South Africa.
Carragher added: 'Maybe it's something in our culture, or because English managers don't get the chance to win club games at the top.
'If all the Premier League managers were English then someone would have to win the league, someone would have to win the FA Cup.
'They'd have to accumulate these trophies and that's what it was like in the past.
'I've got nothing against Capello – I went with him to the World Cup and got to know him a little bit there but I just think that's what international football is.
'I can't say the World Cup went great under Fabio Capello because it didn't, but getting a foreign manager is like saying, 'Well, our keeper's not good enough so we're going to go and get Buffon from Italy', or whoever it may be.
Carragher, nevertheless, does consider Capello to be far superior to his predecessor, Steve McClaren.
'Capello's got an aura about him, a presence,' said Carragher in an interview with talkSPORT.
'Steve McClaren didn't have any of that coming into the job. But even if it didn't go right with him, you can't say, "Oh, it's all right, we'll get a foreign manager now". It's unfortunate but you have to go with the next best thing.
'Maybe it's something in our culture, or because English managers don't get the chance to win club games at the top. Benitez, Houllier, Mourinho - they've all got things about them in terms of having won the big trophies. Does that mean English managers don't get a chance in the Premier League?
'Look at Chelsea, with a 33-year-old manager (Andre Villas-Boas). In years gone by, David Moyes would have got that position, or an up-and-coming manager who's done a great job. But that doesn't happen any more and with the national team it's about what you've achieved, what you've got in the locker.'
Carragher, who won 38 senior caps, came on as a substitute in England's opening World Cup draw with USA and kept his place for the goalless stalemate with Algeria, but a booking in each game saw him miss the win over Slovenia and he was not selected for the crushing 4-1 exit to Germany.
He makes a point, but to call it cheating is silly.
