During the course of last week it was announced that Marcello Lippi had returned to take charge of the Italy national team. Fabio Capello, who achieved stunning success with Milan between 1991 and 1996, winning four Scudetti and a Champions League, once stated that he made a huge mistake in returning for a second spell at the club in 1997/98. The Rossoneri finished the campaign 30 points behind champions Juventus, and Capello was back on his way out of San Siro. The current England manger claimed that it is almost impossible to return to an environment where you have already achieved everything there is to achieve. Some people have expressed concerns that there could be a repeat of Capello’s Milan experience for Marcello Lippi, following his Azzurri homecoming yesterday. Lippi won the biggest prize that there is to win in 2006, so there are question marks over his enthusiasm, even if the tactician did state last night that he was “very, very happy and very motivated.” Cynics will say that once you reach the top, there is only one way you can go, and that is down. Others will argue that Lippi could cement himself as Italy’s greatest-ever coach if he was to repeat Vittorio Pozzo’s feat from the 1930s and win successive World Cups. There can surely be no greater motivation than that.It must also be noted that Lippi has already successfully disproved Capello’s theory. He won two successive Scudetti at Juventus during his second spell in charge at the beginning of the millennium, having already won everything domestically and internationally during his first term in his office. Who says he can’t do the same for Italy? Other coaches have also shown that you can return and succeed. Capello, of all people, won La Liga with Real Madrid in 2007, 10 years after his first triumph. Ottmar Hitzfeld had a second bite of the cherry at Bayern Munich, and delivered a domestic treble last season. Rinus Michels, meanwhile, won Euro ’88 with Holland, 14 years after his first spell coaching the Oranje to the final of the 1974 World Cup. Others have not been so successful though. Carlos Alberto Parreira led Brazil to glory at the 1994 World Cup, but he was a disaster at the 2006 edition. Mario Zagallo fared better for the Selecao in 1998, but still failed to repeat the exploits of the legendary 1970 team. In truth, the Italian Football Federation have decided to go for the safe option after the gamble with the young and inexperienced Roberto Donadoni failed. Lippi immediately commands respect, he is a superb tactician, and most importantly of all, he is a winner, with a capital ‘W’. There will be much rebuilding work to do ahead of the 2010 World Cup campaign, with 14 of the Azzurri’s Euro 2008 squad over the age of 30. However there is no such thing as patience in Italy, the whole Arsene Wenger philosophy of slowly nurturing young talent over a number of years does not exist. The people demand results immediately, and for this reason Lippi is surely the best man for the job. Roberto Mancini is still relatively unproven in my eyes having only really won three Scudetti for Inter due to a brilliant squad, and more importantly the post-Calciopoli situation. Luciano Spalletti and Cesare Prandelli are ones for the future. Carlo Ancelotti was the only realistic alternative, but the lack of top class Italian attacking midfielders probably works against the system he prefers to employ. He will surely be Lippi’s successor in 2010 or 2012 at a time when the technically talented Under-21 generation are mature and ready. As for Lippi’s reasons for returning, I just can’t help but draw comparisons to his Hollywood look-alike Paul Newman, whose character in the classic film ‘The Colour Of Money’, Eddie Felson, a retired, former pool hustler, can’t resist the temptation of returning to what he is best at. Ends
