The Italians' jobs

A decade after the trailblazers arrived, coaches from Serie A are now a major force in English football. Mark Fleming charts their rise

(GETTY/REUTERS/GETTY)

When the board of the Football Association appointed Fabio Capello as manager of England just over two years ago, on 14 December 2007, they can have had little idea what kind of trend was being started.

Since Capello signed his £6m-a-year contract, there has been a small but significant wave of Italians accepting jobs this side of the English Channel. Capello has been followed to the British Isles by Giovanni Trapattoni, who led the Republic of Ireland to the brink of the World Cup finals before Thierry Henry's infamous handball ended their hopes.

Carlo Ancelotti has also recently arrived on these shores, and has steered Chelsea to a four-point lead at the top of the Premier League, with the same group of players that had seemed unmanageable under his predecessor Luiz Felipe Scolari.

Roberto Di Matteo has guided West Bromwich Albion into the promotion places in the Championship, after an impressive first season at MK Dons. His former Chelsea and Italy team-mate Gianfranco Zola is learning the job the hard way, with West Ham United second from bottom in the Premier League after a promising debut season in the role.

Now Roberto Mancini has arrived at Manchester City to make it half a dozen Italian managers occupying some hugely important jobs in British and Irish football. It is quite some contingent considering the relative scarcity of Italians on these islands before Capello's appointment.

The impact that Capello, Ancelotti and Trapattoni have had already in a relatively short period of time suggests Italians can bring a new dimension to the English game. Italy is the country that pretty much invented modern football management with the establishment of the Coverciano coaching school, Italy's university of football, on the outskirts of Florence in 1958 that is devoted to the technical side of the game.

The school has been producing top class coaches ever since, but only now, more than 50 years after its inception, are these coaches finding success in this part of the world. Some observers believe British football in the past was not professional enough for the uncompromising regimes so beloved of Italian managers. The theory goes that British players needed to be broken in gently, by the more accommodating style of managers such as Sir Alex Ferguson, a self-confessed Italophile, and Arsène Wenger, who were prepared to make more concessions to the innately sceptical English.

In his book The Italian Job, the former Chelsea manager Gianluca Vialli argued that the Italian approach to football has historically been far more tactical and more professional. This process has made Italians more effective at achieving results on a world stage, but has left the nation's footballers joyless and cynical. Vialli also claimed the English way, in contrast, is to have more fun, play honestly with heart and soul, and let your hair down afterwards. Vialli wrote: "To the Italian footballer, football is a job; to the English footballer, it's a game."

The contrast between the two cultures became apparent in the mid-1990s, when players such as Dennis Bergkamp and Gianfranco Zola arrived in England from Italian football, to find team-mates in the habit of downing pint after pint between games. It was something that Claudio Ranieri discovered when he managed Chelsea from 2000 to 2004. The current Roma manager said recently: "There is this different culture in England, a different tradition of the players' deportment from that here in Italy. In England, you fight hard on the pitch, then the match is over and you can think about the next thing. In England, it might be normal for a player to drink more than is wise and to party. All that behaviour you read about is strange to Italian football culture. Here, players are expected to be disciplined in their own lives."

However, things are changing. The mentality of "Win or lose, have some booze; if we draw, have some more" has gone, at least at the elite level of the English game. Greater professionalism is seeping slowly through, from the top down.

Ray Wilkins, Ancelotti's assistant at Stamford Bridge, said he was shocked when he moved from Manchester United to Milan in 1984. He told The Independent: "I had played for Manchester United but I can honestly say I didn't fully become a professional until I moved to Milan when I was 27. Diet, training, everything was totally different. Now that difference is negated, it has gone totally at the top level."

Thanks to the likes of Ferguson and Wenger and the influence of foreign players, the English game has caught up with the professionalism found in Italy after decades of lagging behind. While the lack of professionalism was the domestic game's weakness, it is also proving a refreshing attraction for Italians brought up on a less physical, more tactical, approach.

The former Italy coach Arrigo Sacchi, who led Milan to the European Cup in 1989 and 1990, spoke recently of Capello's love of English players' spirit but despair at their tactical naivety. Sacchi said of Capello: "He loves the English desire to fight for every ball, playing physical and aggressive football. He does not rate the tactics often used by British teams, especially in the past, at great international tournaments like the European Championship or the World Cup. Although in recent years, thanks to the foreign legion of managers and players, much has changed in England."

Of course the likes of Capello, Ancelotti and Mancini are no altruistic footballing missionaries, spreading their gospel out of the kindness of their own hearts. The bottom line is money, and English football has more of it than most. Capello only works for England because they pay him £6m a year. Likewise Ancelotti needed a salary of £6.5m before agreeing to take charge of Chelsea, while Mancini will earn £10m for his three-and-a-half year contract with Manchester City.

Aside from the financial advantages of working in England, the Italian contingent can enjoy a few fringe benefits. The attention is far less intense and analytical than in Italy, and as a result the work is more enjoyable.

Ancelotti, for instance, is welcoming the chance to work away from the daily scrutiny of a demanding media in Milan. Wilkins said: "He loves it. He doesn't feel under as much pressure as he did in Italy. He feels extremely relaxed. He goes out in the street and people say 'Hi Mr Ancelotti', no aggravation."

For the moment at least, Italians are this season's fashion. Now the coterie of Italian managers just has to deliver some substantial silverware to go with the style.

A different game? Insiders' views on style contrasts

"There are myths about Italian football. You have to put the idea that Italy is famed for its defensive football in the same bracket as the idea that in England we play kick and rush." Roy Hodgson, Fulham and former Internazionale coach

"They [Ancelotti and Capello] have the winning mentality. That's why they have won so many trophies. 'Must win' is the only way for them and they don't accept slacking off in games or training. Modern football is a lot about winning the ball back quickly and both managers train us to do that – it's a very Italian trait." Frank Lampard, Chelsea and England

"I love the English style and the way players unleash themselves without restraint. But then I love the Italian game, and this is a bit of what we are bringing to English football – the mental game, in it for the long haul." Claudio Ranieri, Roma and ex-Chelsea manager

"What is good about clubs in England is the manager is allowed to be involved on a wider level. At Chelsea I stay here. I watch the youth teams, the academy, I talk with people. You have time to plan properly." Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea manager

"In years gone by we have always talked about the Italians being defensive-minded, but that has never been the case. What it is is that they are extremely well organised." Ray Wilkins, Chelsea assistant manager