England's players will be free to roam from their Polish training base at next year's European Championship, with the national team having learnt the lessons from last year's World Cup.
Coach Fabio Capello visited Krakow this week to inspect England's facilities and decided on a relaxed regime, allowing his players to explore the southern Polish city after morning training.
England's poor 2010 World Cup campaign was partly blamed on staying in a remote hotel in Rustenburg, South Africa, with little outlet for players to enjoy their down time.
''I want to see them in training focused and working hard, but after always they will be free,'' Capello said of the Euro 2012 plans. ''Always my style is to free ... it is a really nice city - it surprised me.''
The former Polish capital, with a population of about 800,000, has a bustling center with restaurants, bars and cafes.
While Capello said his players ''can go outside of the hotel'' in next June's tournament, he cautioned that they will be tracked by fans taking photographs and seeking autographs.
The Football Association also wants players to be engaged in community projects and training sessions with youngsters in Poland, which is co-hosting the tournament with Ukraine. The squad will visit historical sites including the former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, near Krakow.
FA chairman David Bernstein wants the squad to be ''good tourists engaging with fans, staying more centrally and not being isolated.''
''We are placing far greater emphasis on what we can do to provide an enjoyable environment and experience at tournaments,'' he said.
England opted for isolation in South Africa to avoid what defender Rio Ferdinand called ''a circus'' at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The players' wives and girlfriends - the so-called WAGS - dominated the headlines with their trips into the spa town of Baden-Baden where the team was also based.
Capello will also not want his players repeating the antics of some members of England's rugby squad at the recent World Cup.
England's time in New Zealand was mired in controversy, including Mike Tindall being captured on security footage holding a woman's hand and receiving a kiss on top of his head at a bar. That made front-page news because the 2003 World Cup-winning center married Zara Phillips, Queen Elizabeth II's granddaughter, in August.
Manu Tuilagi was also detained by police after jumping off a ferry into Auckland's harbor.
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Rob Harris can be reached at http://twitter.com/RobHarrisUK
