Capello: Keynesian Reformer

Laski-Taylor

Marxism informed economist Harold Laski’s egalitarian perspective: he argued that fundamental change to the organization of society could realize a more equitable distribution of wealth. An England manager who adopted a similar approach was Graham Taylor. He considered that the team should be fashioned according to a collectivist orientation. Taylor had great success as a club manager by instilling pragmatic, assertive long-ball tactics. At international level, Taylor accordingly preferred tenacious players, like Carlton Palmer, to creative talents such as Chris Waddle. Unfortunately, Taylor’s model did not transfer straightforwardly from club to international level. Having only sporadic periods over which to craft a collective ethos, Taylor merely stifled the team by marginalizing guile and creativity. Both long-ball football and Marxism have since been discredited as philosophies: the first because strategies evolved to counter the long-ball game, the second because most people would rather tread on their neighbour’s face than share things equally.

Hayek-Eriksson

Sven Goran Erikkson adopted more of an individualistic approach to the management of England, which is linked to the ideas of economists such as Friedrich Hayek. Hayek argued that society should be founded upon individuals making decisions within a free society. The complexity of society meant that it was not possible to devise a top-down approach to economic management. The free-market therefore provided a natural ordering to society under which self-interested individuals were the key economic units. Inspired by the free-market model, Eriksson was eager to incorporate the best available talent within the England side, with team shape an ancillary consideration. The crux of the set-up was a Steven Gerrard/Frank Lampard axis in central midfield. Neither was allocated clear defensive duties so they were left to sort their positioning out between themselves. It was hoped that decisions made by these free agents at the micro-level would aggregate to form a smoothly functioning whole. But the England team under Eriksson generally operated with the fluidity of a badly warped weathercock.

Keynes-Capello

Addressing this historical legacy, current England coach Fabio Capello can be viewed as a Keynesian reformer. John Maynard Keynes argued that wholesale reform to society (a la Marxism) would not be productive, and that the capitalist economy should be regulated to ensure a progressive social order. Uncertainty, ignorance and selfishness mean that aggregated individuality is unlikely to yield a positive social formation in the long-term. The directed intelligence of a central institution is therefore required to oversee the economy, for example, by actively encouraging demand in times of economic stagnation. Adopting a Keynesian ‘middle-way’ Capello has reconciled the individual proclivities of the available personnel with a clear strategic system. He recognizes the shortcomings of a laissez-faire model and doesn’t simply view the team as a collection of individuals who should work things out amongst themselves. For example, Capello likes a strong centre forward such as Emile Heskey in the side to provide an attacking fulcrum, rather than a media favourite such as Jermain Defoe, who is more potent in front of goal but less of a buttress to the overall team structure. However, individual skills have not been subordinated to a pre-conceived notion of collective order: e.g. Capello has not dropped Gerrard to address the problems of England’s central midfield, but instead has deployed his skills to good effect on the left.

Whilst Keynesian macro-economic coordination may help to ameliorate the latest corollaries of the unfettered global free-market, Capello is adopting a comparable interventionist policy to address the shortcomings of Eriksson’s laissez-faire legacy.