Fabio Capello: sociologist

Sociological theory is underpinned by the concepts structure and agency. Structure relates to the collective or macro aspects of social organization. Individuals are constrained by the broader social structure within which they are situated. Proponents of structural perspectives argue that human collectivities are more than the sum of their parts: complex social entities have emergent properties which cannot be reduced to the isolated acts of individuals.

Agency, on the other hand, places the emphasis on the actions of individuals. This perspective suggests that human behaviour and interactions between individuals actively shape the social fabric. Micro-level phenomena therefore aggregate to form broader social structures: structure does not have any properties over and above the individuals which comprise a social collective.

The contemporary concern for theoretical sociologists is to provide a coherent unified theory that adequately reconciles the structure-agency dualism. Football might be able to help! From a structural perspective, features of football external to the individual player (such as team formation, the rules of the game and the tactics of the opposing side) are crucial. A complete theory cannot simply focus on the intentions and actions of individual players, as the scope for these actions is shaped and constrained by contextual features of the game. Agency is also a necessary aspect of a complete footballing theory, as players’ actions actively shape the structure and content of games. Structures are not rigid and prescriptive but provide a framework for action which shapes players, but which in turn is shaped by player actions.

The aim for the footballing coach, as with the sociologist, is to reconcile the component (player) with the whole (team). For many years in England it had seemed that a bottom-up approach had been favoured which prioritised the player over the team. The apparent intention was to field the XI best players regardless of how this affected team structure. For example, for many years an individualistic approach was adopted with regard to the accommodation of Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard in midfield. They were continually paired together despite the fact that their combined presence diminished their respective impact. Both Lampard and Gerrard were attacking midfielders, so utilizing them both suggested individual talent was preferable to a more appropriate team structure with a defensive midfielder in place. The lack of a genuine holding player thus meant that neither Lampard nor Gerrard was free to play their natural game.

Fabio Capello has not adopted such a bottom-up individualistic approach. He favours a sound team structure, so ‘big name’ players who do not fit the model find themselves marginalized, e.g Michael Owen. This does not mean that Capello ignores agency. Capello’s structure means that Gerrard cannot be so easily accommodated in central midfield, but his individual talents are still required so he has been allocated a role in a flexible niche on the left-side of midfield. Capello is therefore the most sociologically-minded of recent England coaches as he actively sets out to reconcile structure and agency, rather than depending on the aggregation of non-complementary individual talents.