Fabio Capello's lucky red glasses

By Ian Pollock
Personal finance reporter, BBC News

While he ponders who to pick for the England football team, Fabio Capello has also been busy in his other job - promoting spectacles.

The football boss was appointed late last year - and the brand of Italian specs he has modelled since 2001 is using him to enter the UK market.

"Since Fabio Capello's appointment as England manager last December the volcano of media and retail attention has just exploded and we sold everything in the UK," says specs importer Les Johnson.

He and his wife Sarah are in charge of importing the frames for the Italian group Allison, which owns the Zerorh+ brand.

And they are having to step up production especially to deal with current and expected demand.

"It's a bespoke industry at this level," he says, pointing to how there's a waiting list of two to three months for the glasses in the UK.

Too flash?

Boots, which will be retailing the glasses in the UK, seems to be drooling at the prospect of Fabio's face adorning the posters and promotional material in their outlets.

Jackie Gibson, frame buyer, is eager to hail the value of Fabio's endorsement and insists the glasses are not too Italian and flash for British buyers.

"Ten years ago that would have been true," she says.

"But actually people are really looking for significantly better styling in their glasses, they are looking to stand out more and men are prepared to take a bit of a risk with them."

Red is a lucky colour

So what does Fabio think?

His spoken English is not yet very fluent.

But chatting briefly to a few journalists at a publicity event for the optical trade, he offered a few thoughts.

He likes living in central London, where he can walk around without being bothered, compared to Madrid where he had only been able to leave his flat twice in two years.

He is looking forward to spending some time at museums and art galleries.

And he finds his new job more relaxed than it had been in either Italy or Spain, where he said it was impossible for a manager to relax after a match.

Yes, but what about his glasses?

Well, he reckons that red frames are a symbol of good luck.

So it is lucky the company makes them in that colour.

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