Antonio Conte, a son of Lecce, is the latest to take English football by storm. His Chelsea team stand just one win away from the club’s fifth Premier League title in the past 12 years.
A win at West Bromwich Albion on Friday will give Chelsea the three points they need to clinch a championship that has looked increasingly inevitable as they rebuffed every tilt from nearest rivals Tottenham.
But claim it – as they surely will – and Conte will not be the first to lead Chelsea to glory. Carlo Ancelotti did the same in 2010, in his first season in England.
And the Champions League they won in 2012? A victory engineered by an Italian-Swiss, Roberto Di Matteo.
But wait, there’s more. Who won the title last year? An Italian of course, the gracious Claudio Ranieri, who masterminded Leicester’s extraordinary triumph. And for good measure, Roberto Mancini lifted the Premier League trophy with Manchester City in 2012.
Antonio Conte is on the verge of winning the Premier League with Chelsea in his debut campaign
Ray Wilkins believes there are many reasons why Italian coaches succeed in England
The Italian flag has flown high above English football for some time now – and with Max Allegri about to secure the Serie A title with Juventus, Ancelotti lifting the Bundesliga championship with Bayern Munich, and Massimo Carrera top of the Russian League with Spartak Moscow, it flutters across Europe.
Ray Wilkins was Ancelotti’s assistant at Chelsea – and Gianluca Vialli’s too when he was in ruled Stamford Bridge and won the European Cup Winners’ Cup and League Cup in 1998 – and played for AC Milan for three years. He believes there are three reasons why Italian coaches succeed in England – tactical skill, an emphasis on fitness, and an ability to handle players.
“Italian coaches are very, very well versed tactically. They are taught well in Italy, and they bring that expertise with them,” said Wilkins.
“The Italian coaches I have worked with know how to organise teams. Allegri’s Juventus side is not packed with exceptional players but they know how to defend. Their coaches are very astute.
“They are all very passionate too. Conte shows it on the touchline; Ancelotti less so, but underneath it is there.
“One thing with all of them is an obsession with fitness. Vialli used to run Chelsea’s players really hard. There were a lot of 1,000m runs.
“We had a lot of older players in that team in 1998, but a lot of them played 61 or so games. That was down to fitness. This season Conte has run Chelsea’s players hard. They are super fit.
“The Italians concentrate on technical skills. And they can cope with the different aspects of English football. In Italy you get the same game virtually every week – not here. Here there are lots of different systems and types of play. But the Italians enjoy pitting their wits against that.”
Under Ancelotti and Wilkins Chelsea won the league and FA Cup Double in 2010, and the former Blues captain added: “Carlo was brilliant at handling players. He had a lot of big egos in that squad, with players like Didier Drogba and John Terry, but he could handle them. He was masterful. He learned that in all the years he was in charge at AC Milan.
“He was very passionate, he just didn’t show it on the touchline, not like Conte does. He was calm, he had confidence in his players, but he made them work.
A win against West Brom on Friday will give Chelsea the title
“He had a good side there – he knew that, so he just let it rumble on. He was clever. At one point it was going so well that he would pick the team for several weeks ahead – who would be good for one game, who for another.
“I have never worked with Roberto [Mancini], but at City he was also working with big egos in a big team. He’s got a pretty big ego himself, but he got it right. He could handle them. He was passionate too – he could lose it on the touchline.
“As for Claudio, what he achieved at Leicester was remarkable. He had some help from people like Craig Shakespeare behind the scenes, but even so.”
Not all Italians have been successful here, of course. Gianfranco Zola, Paolo Di Canio, Attilio Lombardo and Francesco Guidolin did not excel. And a certain Portuguese won the title three times for Chelsea. But by and large, the Azzurri rule.
The Italian Job ended on a cliff-hanger. This title race looks set to be over well before the final credits.
