England will break new ground in appointing a 61-year-old to the head coach’s post and fans may be encouraged that, for all his solid tactics, Fabio Capello’s CV contains some thrilling entries

Fabio Capello will become the oldest of England’s 12 managers

61 Fabio Capello

56 - 60 Ron Greenwood
52 - 58 Sven-Göran Eriksson
51 - 53 Terry Venables
49 - 57 Sir Bobby Robson
48 - 49 Kevin Keegan
46 - 49 Don Revie
45 - 49 Graham Taylor
45 - 46 Steve McLaren
43 - 54 Sir Alf Ramsey
38 - 41 Glenn Hoddle
34 - 49 Walter Winterbottom

His tactics

Fabio Capello often fielded two holding midfield players in a 4-2-3-1 formation as Real Madrid coach last season. In Real’s first five Champions League group games, Emerson and Mahamadou Diarra were his defensive midfield players, typically recording average touch positions within the centre circle in their own half. Capello chose three from Raúl, Robinho, David Beckham, Guti and José Antonio Reyes to play slightly farther forward (aside from the “dead” match against Dynamo Kiev in December), with Ruud van Nistelrooy as the lone striker

Domestic league titles won by England managers before their appointment

9 Fabio Capello
6 Sven-Göran Eriksson
2 Don Revie
1 Terry Venables
1 Sir Alf Ramsey
0 Ron Greenwood, Sir Bobby Robson, Kevin Keegan, Graham Taylor, Steve McLaren, Glenn Hoddle, Walter Winterbottom

Highs and lows

Fabio Capello is known for winning trophies through caution but his record suggests he can also achieve success when he throws that caution to the wind. He has produced both the lowest-scoring and the highest-scoring Italian champions in the past 45 years in terms of goals per game. Remarkably, the two feats were recorded with much the same AC Milan team

1991 - 92
Italian champions

21 goals conceded
74 goals scored

1993 - 94
Italian champions

15 goals conceded
36 goals scored

Number of England players under Fabio Capello’s charge in his 15 years of management

1
David Beckham Real Madrid 2006-07

Unbeaten sequences

57
League matches with AC Milan, September 1991–March 1993 (he took over for the second match of Milan’s 58-game undefeated run)

38
Away league matches with AC Milan, September 1991– October 1993 (including these three in succession: Foggia 2, Milan 8; Pescara 4, Milan 5; Fiorentina 3, Milan 7)

38
Home league matches with AS Roma, April 2000–April 2002

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