Tuesday 26 June 2007

The Resurrection of Sven


JJ here,

Well eh… he’s back. Sven Urine Eriksson is back in football management (according to about 20 football sites anyway) with Man City and could a greater combination have come about. A manager who adores trophy players paired with a side that craves mediocrity, a decent winger and the odd point against United. You can imagine the ‘social networking’ site where they hooked up…

MC: Say it one more time…
Svennis: First half guud…
MC: He’s still got it…
Svennis: Secund half, not so guud…
MC: What do you need?
Svennis: Three million a year, a nice secretary and an LA Galaxy season ticket.
MC: Get onboard!

Sorry about that, but anyway…

Will he attract top players?
Is he still the tactical cripple he was with England?
What will his budget be?
Will he continue to develop City’s quality Academy players?
Will he stay for the full three years?

In many ways it’s a no lose situation for Sven; if he succeeds and rebuilds his reputation then he’ll move on and get a job at a club he actually wants to work with. If he fails, most likely City will have to pay out yet another compensation package to him and his Mr 10 Per Cent, Atole Still.

Eriksson’s record in club management is still decent enough…


1979-82: IFK Gothenburg
Swedish Cup Winners 1979
Swedish Cup Winners 1982
Swedish League Champions 1981
Swedish League Champions 1982
UEFA Cup Winners 1982

1982-84: SL Benfica
Portuguese League Champions 1983
Portuguese League Champions 1984
Portuguese Cup Winners 1983

1984-87: AS Roma
Italian Cup Winners 1986

1989-92: SL Benfica
European Cup Runners Up 1990
Portuguese League Champions 1991

1992-97: Sampdoria
Italian Cup Winners 1994

1997-2000: SS Lazio
Italian Cup Winners 1998
Italian Cup Winners 2000
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Winners 1999
Italian League Champions 2000


… however, there are a lot of honours that are over 20 years old as well as several in Portugal where three teams dominate to a ridiculous degree. Looking at the amount of cup competitions won though, he could be just the man for City. They don’t expect to be top four; they barely expect to be top ten! A Carling Cup and more home goals than last season should have them dancing in the streets of Moss Side.

Despite the noises at the weekend about his “good relationship” with England players, I can’t see many jumping at the chance of teaming up with him again. Indeed, it’s probably only the fact that his inside man McClaren got the England post that has prevented many players from doing a complete hatchet job on him in their autobiographies.

He’ll buy foreign and he’ll buy flair players. Just what City want really. I’ve already said that I think Thaksin Shinawatra could be an absolute disaster but I’ve also said that watching City stumble from disaster to disaster could be some of the best entertainment seen next season.

Good move? Bad move? Well eh…

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

well eh... what can we say?
This should be highly interesting if all goes ahead as planned.

There won't be any sort of big signings, couple of relatively unknown players from the continent, a few more looking for a last pay cheque maybe.

The post match press conferences should be a thrill, will Garth Crooks get to ask him the hard questions?

Should be fun though (not the football), he'll do a decent job I'd say

Anonymous said...

Garth Crooks. What a cunt. End of message.

Anonymous said...

It can't be any worse than last year.

Mr C said...

Well its a step up from Chris Coleman.

Anonymous said...

I have only just found this blog so it's "old news" but:
Eriksson is listed by TheFA as Englands 2nd all time best coach with only 5 competitive games lost during his tenure (an all time record). The Official England fan organisation's "Save Our Sven" campaign and player protests during the Spring of 2006 would indicate that most fans and his team looked at his record and not at the News of the World?
After his "gap year" globe trotting for football charities and fending off offers from many top national squads and league clubs, he provided MCFC with it's best season in decades followed by yet another "Save Our Sven" campaign and a threatened player strike.
England crashed out of Euro 08 without him and MCFC are wallowing at the foot of the table this season....
No "Resurrection" needed and watch out The Three Lions as Sven and Mexico's "El Tri" are now hungry for success in the next FIFA World Cup in 2010?
England and City threw away their best chance of success in decades and how the rest of the soccer world looked on and laughed in total amazement....

Unknown said...

sven is a good manager but he has some fatal flaws, such as being very negative, which ultimately told for him.
He's doin grand with Mexico but they don't really have the players to do much at WC2010