By ADAM LAZZARI FABIO CAPELLO earns around �4.8 million a year plus enormous bonuses as the manager of the England football team. But for England darts manager Peter Melton, who lives in Chatteris, it s a different story. Melton, 49, receives just expense

By ADAM LAZZARI

FABIO CAPELLO earns around �4.8 million a year plus enormous bonuses as the manager of the England football team.

But for England darts manager Peter Melton, who lives in Chatteris, it's a different story.

Melton, 49, receives just expenses for holding the top job in English darts, but says it is a position he won't give up easily.

He said: "There are elections within the British Darts Organisation every year and I plan to keep doing the job for as long as I'm physically and mentally capable.

"Hearing Land of Hope and Glory played before a match brings a lump to my throat.

"One of my fondest memories is from when I was a selector, telling former world champion Martin "Wolfie" Adams that he'd been made England captain.

"We were standing in a car park in Walsoken when I gave him the good news. He was ecstatic. Martin is a model professional and fully deserved it."

But Melton, who works as a stock controller and is only the fourth person to manage the England darts teams in their 35-year history, said the job can be tough.

He said: "Having to tell someone that they've not been picked for a big international event is the hardest part of the job. It's horrible and you have to be thick skinned."

Melton has been on the international scene for around 15 years and progressed from selector to his position as manager which he has held for the last two years.

His duties range from picking the teams, offering players advice and support and organising the players' transport, accommodation and visas for international events.

He also England director and has responsibility for the financial side of running the national teams.

His greatest achievement with the national team was when he was a selector in a team that won all seven gold medals at a World Cup in Switzerland in 1995.

He said: "I never played beyond club level and I guess I naturally evolved into the position I have now.

"I started playing locally when I was a teenager and a friend got picked for Cambridgeshire so I went along to support him and then soon got involved helping out with the county side. I eventually became county chairman, which I still am now, and regularly attended meetings with the BDO. I progressed to become a selector and then national manager."

Melton is now preparing for the World Cup in Charlotte, America in September.

"I would be very disappointed if we did not at least win the ladies' event and come away with a medal from the men's competition.