Pro League: Sven-Goran Eriksson leaves Dubai club Al Nasr after four months | The National China's Guangzhou R&F is reportedly interested in internationally renowned coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, but the former England coach, when asked if China is his next destination, answers: 'Maybe, but there are other solutions as well.' Pro League: Sven-Goran Eriksson leaves Dubai club Al Nasr after four months UAE football DUBAI // Sven-Goran Eriksson's brief tenure at Al Nasr has come to an end after the Swede revealed he will leave the UAE to return to club coaching. The former England coach arrived in January as the Dubai side's technical adviser and signed an 18-month contract with a remit to oversee the technical development of all aspects of the football set-up, with particular focus on the youth academy. He was also said to form an integral component in the club's committee tasked with identifying potential signings. Eriksson was expected to continue in his role despite Nasr's decision on Saturday to part company with Walter Zenga , their coach of the past two and a half seasons. Eriksson was initially tipped to replace the Italian, although both he and the club's board dismissed the idea.

He did not provide Nasr with the sort of recognition Diego Maradona gave Al Wasl during the previous Pro League season, but many fans of world football would have recognised Eriksson, 65, as he sat in the VIP area of Nasr home games over the final half of the season, often speaking with club officials seated on either side of him. It now seems certain he will take a position at Guangzhou R&F, a team in the Chinese Super League, who last month claimed they were in discussions with the former Benfica, Lazio, Sampdoria and Manchester City manager. Only last week, Eriksson denied he had been in contact with the club. "I'm leaving Al Nasr, and Dubai early in the morning," he said last night. "I have done what I set out to do: I looked at football schools, academies and the first team, and I've given my advice on everything, such as how to get the best out of the academy and other details. "So that part of the job is done. Now it's up to the club to do it or not. But from my side it's done. "I might also have a possibility to go back into coaching somewhere.

You will know that in a couple of days." When asked if his next destination is China, Eriksson replied: "Maybe, but there are other solutions as well." Eriksson's decision not to see out his contract will disappoint Nasr, as they had recently reiterated their determination to retain one of the most experienced men in world football. Eriksson has led a nomadic existence during the past few years, which in 2010 saw him briefly manage Ivory Coast and then Leicester City. Last September he accepted a director of football role at BEC Tero Sasana, the two-time Thai champions. That his work with Nasr lasted only 19 weeks may rankle with the club's supporters, but Eriksson says he is content with his contribution. "I've been here four and a half months and I feel I've done what the club asked me to," he said. "So I'm finished. I've been very happy here and thanks to the chairman and vice chairman for that. They're very good people to work with and I'll go on and help them in the future if they want and if I can.

"I can give them advice about coaches and players, whatever is needed." Eriksson refused to comment on whether he has played a part in the identification of Zenga's successor, simply adding: "Everything is done, but everything is confidential." ï¿½ BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Man City | Eriksson written off Eriksson written off Sven-Goran Eriksson's England reign ended tearfully and trophy-free last July. Almost a year later and Eriksson is back in work as manager of Manchester City. His international coaching credentials may leave a lot to be desired, but at club level his trophy collection is impressive. Eriksson's CV contains league and cup Doubles in three different countries as well as European titles with Gothenburg and Lazio. But how is he now viewed in the three countries where he cut his managerial teeth? BBC Sport spoke to journalists from Sweden, Portugal and Italy to find out. SWEDEN Robert Laul Sportbladet "Eriksson started his coaching career at Degefors in the third division but nobody knew who he was before he got the job at IFK.

"They had a good team but Sven was also credited for this because he had a new tactic where his sides pressured the opponent high up the field, which was not common in those days. IFK GOTHENBURG 1979-82 After an uninspiring playing career was cut short by injury his first coaching role was at Degefors, where he led them from the third division to the first Handed the manager's job at IFK at the age of 30 he won the Swedish Cup in his first season there In 1982 they did the treble of the Swedish league and cup as well as the Uefa Cup "That kind of play was new - it was a mix between the traditional English football style and the more modern game. "He got his big breakthrough when they won the Uefa cup in 1982. No Swedish team has done anything like that. "We followed his progress and he continued to get bigger and bigger and when he took over the English national team and they beat Germany 5-1 he was at the top of his legendary status. "But his profile has fallen a little bit in the last few years with the side stories outside of football - the womanising and everything.

"And now by joining Manchester City it has fallen a bit more. "I think Swedes hoped he would pick a bigger team for probably the last club of his career. "He has been a big coach before and we hoped he would be a big coach again. But apparently not when you see him now. "Among football trainers he is highly regarded. The Swedish coach Lars Lagerback rates Sven as he doesn't care about his affairs. "I think he will probably take over the Swedish national team after Manchester City as his last job in his career. Despite everything that has gone on he would be a popular appointment." PORTUGAL A Bola "Eriksson worked for Benfica twice and on both occasions he was loved by the people. "He is a man of great kindness, a very quiet person who knows a thing or two about football.

BENFICA 1982-84 & 1989-1992 Won two league titles and one Portuguese cup in his first spell, before leaving for AS Roma On his return he proved equally popular, guiding them to a European Cup final defeat to AC Milan in 1990 and then winning the league title in 1991 before Italy called again "When he came back in 1989 it was after a wave of popularity demanding his return. "The club wanted him back and he did not disappoint, although they didn't win what they all wanted which was the European Cup. "That was the moment of truth for him but he lost it and he looked for a different future. "Benfica won the title the following year and then he was off to Italy again. "That was a long time ago - now it is a different world. "Eriksson wanted to come back here this summer but the people at Benfica were not keen on him - that is when he came to the conclusion he should take a club in England. "He couldn't give Benfica anything else after being manager of England - everyone can see his days are over and he is a man of the past.

"Obviously the hunger has gone - when he was leading England in the World Cup he had nothing to offer any more. "He would like to go back to Italy but they also don't want him. He had no alternative but to go to Manchester City. "At Manchester City I don't know what he will do but certainly nothing that we don't already know. "If there is money to come from the Thai consortium that is what he is now after." ITALY "Eriksson came to Italy with what was at the time quite an innovative 4-4-2 system. "When he arrived at Roma he was unquestionably the new kid in town. AS ROMA 1984-87 Roma finished seventh in Eriksson's first season In 1985-86 their title challenge ended when they lost at home to relegated Lecce in the penultimate game of the season, but they won the Italian Cup Then had two disappointing seasons with Fiorentina where they finished eighth and seventh in Serie A "He was a modern coach in a number of ways and presented himself decently - he had this aura of a professor and a niceness about him.

"He created his own image which has lasted a good few years in spite of the way it ended at Roma. "The famous moniker that was attributed to him in his final years, before he finally won the title with Lazio in peculiar circumstances, was "il perdente di successo" - the successful loser. "He was the nearly man in a way. He won with Lazio in his last full season but on a couple of occasions he managed to lose the title despite being in a position of favour. "They won the title with Pierluigi Collina's help when he let that awful game between Perugia and Juventus go on in spite of the pitch being unplayable because of a storm. "And how much did he spend? Had Roman Abramovich managed to take him away from England he is the sort of coach who would have gone along with each and every one of his whims - he would not have questioned him like Jose Mourinho does. "With Eriksson it would have been a feast of galacticos.

SAMPDORIA 1992-97 In five years with Sampdoria his only silverware was the Italian Cup in 1994 During that time they only managed one top-five finish - in 1994 "When he moved from Sampdoria to Lazio he insisted Roberto Mancini would join him at the earliest and a couple of others followed. He was not the sort of manager who would just do with what he had. "Sampdoria were the nearly club. Their owner Paolo Mantovani was a gentleman and he got gentleman Sven in as coach, and with Gianluca Vialli and Mancini they were everyone's second club. "They had some good spells and undoubted quality in the squad. They had an appealing package but Sampdoria were not expected to challenge for the title every year like AC Milan, Juventus or Inter were. "They were the fairytale team and Eriksson milked such advantages, any success such as a cup or playing in Europe would be a plus rather than concentrating on the failure of not challenging for the title. "It was good enough for him to keep himself in the picture as one of top managers in Serie A.

LAZIO 1997-2001 Won Italian Cup in 1998 in his first season in charge but they fell short in the run-in to the title and lost in Uefa Cup final Guided Lazio to their first ever European trophy - the Cup Winners' Cup - in 1999 but they threw away a six-point lead in Serie A on the last day of the season In 2000 he capped his best ever season by winning the Italian Cup and making it an Italian double by winning the league in controversial circumstances on the last day of the season "It always seems that 90% of his players love him - perhaps because he hardly ever loses his temper. "He is a chairman's manager and a player's manager, they can express themselves without any dictatorial restrictions. "Eriksson and Manchester City is a meeting of two parties that have run out of options. City wanted Claudio Ranieri or someone from Europe and he is the only one available. "Eriksson was still hoping something would happen with Fabio Capello at Real Madrid in the false belief he would be in the picture.

"He hasn't realised everyone has their sell-by date." SEE ALSO Sven-Goran Eriksson's 'Sex Addiction' - Business Insider print Michael Regan / Getty Sven-Goran Eriksson's former partner delivers her verdict on the ex-England manager's revelation in his memoirs of a string of secret lovers. When Sven-Goran Eriksson published his autobiography, making public a string of affairs during his relationship with Nancy Dell’Olio, he must have feared it was a high-risk strategy. Now, he will know for certain that it was – for, in the language of the football teams the Swede managed, his fiery Italian former partner has made a crunching tackle. It targets not just Eriksson, but the most high profile of his lovers, Ulrika Jonsson, a television presenter and fellow Swede, who, herself, was the first of his lovers to cry foul. “Sex with Sven was as ordered and functional as an Ikea instruction manual,” Jonsson, 46, had said in response to his disclosures.

“Putting together a Billy bookcase [an Ikea product] would have probably left me more satisfied.” Yesterday, it was Dell’Olio’s turn, outlining a theory that Eriksson, 65, was only having sex with other women as a sort of pre-match warm-up. She told the Daily Mail: “I think he was doing all this to make himself better for me, to satisfy me more,” she said in an interview. “Like practising. Sometimes, I think he should have gone to a sex addiction clinic, like Michael Douglas.” When asked if sex with Eriksson was really as boring as an Ikea manual, Dell’Olio replied: “If the sex was bad, maybe that was her fault. I am not surprised because it confirms my theory. I do know that sexually, Sven didn’t care about anybody except me.” Dell’Olio, who practised as a lawyer in Italy where Eriksson was a club manager and first met her, also disclosed that she was taking legal action over the book’s indiscretions.

The couple’s nine-year relationship ended in acrimony in 2007, prompting a legal wrangle over a two-bedroom flat in Eaton Square in Belgravia, central London, which Eriksson had secretly bought for £1.7 million in 2005 – and where he had wooed lovers behind Dell’Olio’s back. Dell’Olio moved to the flat following the couple’s eventual separation two years later. After 13 hours of mediation earlier this year, Dell’Olio agreed to leave the flat in return for a lump sum and an Italian beach house. Dell’Olio says that details revealed in Eriksson’s autobiography breach a confidentiality settlement agreed as part of the negotiations earlier this year. She is now trying to block sales of the book, Sven: My Story, although it is already on sale. In her interview, Dell’Olio said: “So I freeze the book. He knows that is really irritating of him to write these stupid, inaccurate and offensive things ...

all of this has been enough for me to start a court case, to sue him.” Although she never married Eriksson, Dell’Olio became the most famous and flamboyant of football wives when the Swede took up the England job in 2001, subsequently guiding the national team to the quarter-finals of two World Cups and a European Championship. She has never been far from the public’s gaze, enduring a disastrous run on Strictly Come Dancing paired with Anton du Beke in 2011. But the reopening of hostilities with Eriksson has thrust Dell’Olio firmly back into the spotlight. She has been angered by Eriksson’s claims in his book that her “irritating” behaviour drove him into the arms of other women. Besides his affair with Jonsson, Eriksson also cheated on Dell’Olio with Faria Alam, a secretary at the Football Association. He reveals in his book that he had numerous other affairs too, including with an Italian actress, Debora Caprioglio, and a Romanian gymnast called Roxy. In his book, Eriksson is less than gentlemanly about Dell’Olio.

Within a few months of stealing her from her Italian husband, he was tiring of Dell’Olio. “Nancy was very demanding. And it didn’t take long before I started to feel cramped by her,” he wrote, “She always had to be the centre of attention.” He tried to engineer for Dell’Olio to return to her husband, Giancarlo Mazza, but it did not work out. Eating out, moaned Eriksson: “Nancy would complain about anything and everything – the service, the champagne, the lighting. She demanded constant attention, and I got more and more irritated with her.” While they lived in an apartment in central Rome, Eriksson secretly rented a villa in the suburbs near the training ground of Lazio, the club he managed before taking the England job. He would take other women there behind Dell’Olio’s back. Despite the terrible indiscretions, Dell’Olio insists that Eriksson only really loved her. “Sven was always asking me to marry him. He could have walked out at any time,” she said. “Why did he not leave me ... He chose to stay.” Eriksson’s book even accused his former partner of stealing kitchen utensils when they finally split.

It is a claim that has Dell’Olio as infuriated as any of the others in the book. “I want his sieve and his ladles? This is one of his biggest lies,” she said. More from The Telegraph: BBC SPORT | WORLD CUP 2002 | Eriksson named England coach Tuesday, 31 October, 2000, 15:58 GMT Eriksson named England coach Sven Goran Eriksson is the new manager of England Sven Goran Eriksson has been appointed the new England coach in succession to Kevin Keegan on a five-year contract. The announcement was made at a press conference at the Football Association's Lancaster Gate headquarters. Eriksson becomes the first foreigner to take on the job in a major break from tradition by the FA and has an option to stay on for a further two years after 2006. The 52-year-old Swede has been with Italian giants Lazio for the past three years and will take up the England position full time next July. His assistant at Lazio, Tord Grip, will join the England set up as chief scout.

Number one FA chief executive Adam Crozier insisted Eriksson was the only man for the job in their eyes. "Sven Goran Eriksson was the unanimous choice of our selection team. He is one of the best coaches in the world," said Crozier. At no stage did we approach any other manager. He was, and is our number one choice. Adam Crozier "At no stage did we approach any other manager. He was, and is our number one choice. The FA hope Eriksson will "manage" England on a part time basis for the World Cup qualifying matches against Finland and Albania next March and Greece in June before taking up the post full time. Crozier confirmed: "We are very hopeful that we wil be able to manage the team for the World Cup qualfiers in March and June. "He will work with Peter Taylor and Steve McClaren and ties in to our strategy. He buys in 100% to add strategy of building for the long term and to have an English manager in the long term." But Lazio spokesman Guido Paglia insisted Eriksson would not be available to England until July. "Any speculation that Eriksson will leave before then is just unfounded rumour," he said.

England timetable Eriksson denies United link | Football | The Guardian Eriksson denies United link Friday 8 February 2002 08.09 EST First published on Friday 8 February 2002 08.09 EST Close This article is 14 years old Sven-Goran Eriksson has vehemently denied being lined up to take over from Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. Reports in this morning's press claim that the England coach had been in negotiations with the Old Trafford board over the last four months, and was just 48 hours away from being announced as their new manager when Ferguson performed his dramatic volte-face on Tuesday. However, Eriksson today dismissed the stories, saying: "I can categorically state that at no stage have I been involved in any negotiations with Manchester United either directly or indirectly. Nor have any of my advisors either in this country or abroad. "As I have said many times before, I am very proud to be the manager of England and remain committed to the job both now and in the future.

I am deeply disturbed by any suggestions to the contrary." Ferguson's initial decision to retire from management at the end of the season had galvanised the United board into action in order to find a suitable replacement. The appointment of a successor to the most successful manager in the club's history had to be spot-on. When Sir Matt Busby left the club 30 years ago United went into such a decline that they were relegated, and did not fully regain their place of pre-eminence until Ferguson arrived in 1986. The board had reportedly sounded out the top names in football with Bayern Munich's Ottmar Hitzfeld, Celtic's Martin O'Neill, David O'Leary of Leeds, former Holland coach Louis van Gaal and Roma's Fabio Capello all in the frame. However, a spokesperson for Athole Still, Eriksson's exclusive agent, this morning told Guardian Unlimited Football that the England coach was United's preferred choice to take over after the World Cup. "It's no secret that Sven was top of their short-list," said the spokesperson, "but it was always clear the timing was wrong." "We've had no contact with Manchester United whatsoever," he added.

FA chief executive Adam Crozier angrily branded this morning's reports in the Express and the Star as "complete nonsense". "I am very concerned about stories surrounding Sven which have publicly drawn the England manager into a situation which affects Manchester United and Manchester United alone. "These stories have no foundation whatsoever. Both Sven and I are entirely committed to the long-term future of England and anything which suggests otherwise is pure nonsense. "There will be no further comment from The FA on this matter." That said, the Swede has previously hinted that he hankers after the day-to-day buzz of club management which he has missed since leaving Lazio just over a year ago. And other reports this week suggested that Lazio's president, Sergio Cragnotti, recently got wind of United's move and tried to persuade Eriksson to return to Rome instead. However, the Express claim that Cragnotti was too late because Eriksson had decided that he would only resume club management with United. Such a decision, if it was ever made, is meaningless now that Ferguson has reversed his intention to vacate the position. However, the Daily Telegraph today reports that United are stalling over Ferguson's new contract because of a disagreement over its length.

The 60-year-old Scot is demanding a three-year deal but the board apparently only want to offer him a 12-month contract. It was understood that the United board were surprised by Ferguson's change of heart, having come close to finalising plans to install his successor. This led to complex negotiations over the weekend, says the Telegraph, with the club attempting to persuade him to stick to his original decision to leave. They only agreed to let him stay when faced with the prospect that Ferguson, a hero with the fans, might then go public and reveal that the board did not want him. The subsequent statement released to the Stock Exchange was carefully phrased to suggest that Ferguson had approached the board, not the other way around.

Sven-Göran Eriksson's Career: The Fortunate Rise and the Inevitable Fall - Back Page Football Back Page Football Tweet A wearer of rimless Armani glasses; a multilingual; an owner of over twenty-five designer suits; a possessor of a calm demeanour; a winner of seventeen trophies (became the first ever manager to win a double in three different countries); and the third most successful, record wise, England manager of all-time (played 67, won 40, drew 15, lost 12). Superficially, Sven-Göran Eriksson looks the part of the wise Professor and his record should be considered among the best managers of the modern era but on closer inspection, the Swede’s achievements and activities leave a lot to be desired of a manager who has coached some of the biggest teams in the world. Eriksson, certainly in the past decade, has become something of a mercenary and placebo manager, a man who changes very little of the said team’s fortunes and, regardless of the Swede’s already cool demeanour, shows little sorrow upon being sacked from his latest job.

Added to this is the Swede’s lack of tactical dynamism during the course of 90 minutes, his poor level of discipline with his players, his obscene off the field activities, his naive media relations, his ill-advised career moves and his self-confessed use of Football Manager and Youtube for scouting players. So, it begs the question, was Eriksson always an average, at best, and lucky manager or did certain environments and situations bring out the best, or worst, of his abilities? Sven-Göran Eriksson was born in the small town of Sunne in Värmland in west-central Sweden on 5 February,1940. A lover of football from an early age, Eriksson supported Liverpool, like his father, and attended a handful of matches at Anfield in his early life during the Swedish winter break. Despite his decent sporting prowess, from ski jumping 65 meters to playing ice hockey locally, a professional sporting career did not seem likely for the young Swede – particularly in full-time football.

Balancing being a PE teacher in Orebro and playing as a right back for lower division clubs, from his local Torsby to KB Karlskoga (Eriksson’s highest level of division two football, where he met Tord Grip) to Gothenburg’s Västra Frölunda Idrottsförening, Eriksson suffered a crippling right knee injury in 1975, at the age of 27, and was forced to retire. It was not, however, the end of his footballing life and he was asked by Grip to become his assistant at Thrid Division side Degerfors IF. At this time in Swedish football, clubs were open to the English style of football and the likes of Roy Hodgson and Bob Houghton, who were young and up and coming managers that had their respective playing careers prematurely ended, were employed in Sweden’s top divisions.

The then 27 year old Houghton managed Allsvenskan side Malmo between 1974 and 1980, having only coached Maidstone United and Hastings United previously, while the 29 year old Hodgson was hired in 1976 by Halmstad after a managerial spell with Carshalton Athletic. What attracted Swedish clubs to these then obscure Englishmen was their qualifications, as graduates of the FA’s technical director Allen Wade’s coaching course and adherents to the legendary FA Guide to Coaching and Training. This breed of English managers were more concerned with shape, rather than individual ability, and an emphasis was placed on defensive and united zonal movement, pressing, counter-attacking and a high offside line. As seemingly bizarre as it was for two unknown Englishmen to get such high-level jobs in Sweden, Swedish football was in a state of flux. The libero movement under Georg ‘Aby’ Ericson in the early 1970s had seen Sweden finish a brilliant 3rd at the 1974 World Cup, but there was still an English rootedness, fondness and connection with much of Swedish football.

After all, English sailors introduced the game to Sweden and the national team’s first coach was George Raynor, an Aldershot reserve team coach, who used the W-M formation innovated by the great Herbert Chapman. Also, following on from Ajax’s and Bayern Munich’s domination of the European Cup in the early ‘70s, English teams, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, were beginning to gain a foothold in Europe with effective football. Eriksson became open to the English style of football once he began his role as assistant coach to Grip at Degerfors, going on coaching tutorials under Terry Venables at Crystal Palace, Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan at Liverpool and Sir Bobby Robson at Ipswich Town, as well as keeping in close contact with Houghton and Hodgson. Grip was also a key figure in Eriksson’s early coaching career and within a year of Eriksson becoming his number two, Grip was approached by George Ericson to become his assistant for the Swedish national team in the run up to the 1978 World Cup. Grip jumped at the chance and left his 29 year old protégé to take over Degerfors.

In just his first season, Eriksson helped Degefors to promotion, something Grip failed to achieve, to the Superettan. Much of this early success was owed to Eriksson’s clever appointment of Tom Chadney, a graduate of Wade’s infamous coaching course, as his assistant and the pair were quickly snapped up by Allsvenskan side IFK Göteborg, who were undergoing a barren spell of ten years without a title when Eriksson took over. Considering Eriksson was just 30 and had not yet even managed in the Superettan, his appointment to one of Sweden’s most illustrious clubs was a huge shock – particularly given his early shyness and awkwardness with players and media alike. The Swede even began to doubt himself, after losing his first three games, and offered to resign but spurred on by his players, who quickly warmed to the Swede’s empathetic and easygoing man management style, Göteborg finished the season 2nd and won the Swedish Cup.

While this was a decent turnaround, Eriksson’s ‘English’ style of football was winning him few admirers, particularly with Hodgson and Houghton departing for Bristol City in 1980 and the English era being then deemed over, and average attendances dwindled from 16,450 to 13,320 at Göteborg within a season. While 1981 was a trophyless season, 1982 would prove to be the groundbreaking campaign of Eriksson’s career. After qualifying for the UEFA Cup from again finishing as runners-up in the Allsvenskan, Eriksson led Göteborg to an unprecedented treble of league, cup and UEFA Cup.

Göteborg were an unstoppable force in Europe, with the steel of Glenn Hysén, Conny Karlsson, Stig Fredriksson and Glenn Strömberg brilliantly propping up the prolificity of Dan Corneliusson and Torbjörn Nilsson, but for the most part, it was a massive shock for them to hammer Dinamo Bucharest (4-1 on aggregate), Valencia (4-2 on aggregate), Kaiserslauten (edged 3-2 on aggregate) and Hamburg (a 4-0 final win over the international-laden German giants). For this, Eriksson deserves immense credit for giving his fairly obscure, aside from a handful of Swedish internationals, side the belief to beat some of Europe’s top sides. Having achieved all he could with fairly limited resources, Eriksson left for the mighty Benfica. Unlike his first season at Göteborg, the now 34 year old Eriksson, one of the hottest young managers in European football, did not require a bedding in period and won the Portuguese League in 1982/1983 (double with the Portuguese Cup) and in 1983/1984.

However, a defeat to the talented Anderlecht in the 1983 UEFA Cup final prevented Eriksson becoming the first manager to win back to back European titles with different clubs. Still, though, Eriksson had achieved a remarkable rise from part-time footballer to multiple title-winning coach in just nine seasons and a move to one of Europe’s most competitive leagues seemed inevitable. Roma, who finished 2nd in Serie A in 1983/1984 and who made the final of the 1984 European Cup, duly obliged after Eriksson received the warm backing of outgoing manager and fellow Swede Nils Liedholm. Unlike at Göteborg and Benfica, Eriksson had a host of international stars and resources at Roma.

The likes of Franco Tancredi, Dario Bonetti, Aldo Maldera, Sebastiano Nela, Ubaldo Righetti, Carlo Ancelotti, Ruben Buriani, Toninho Cerezo, Bruno Conti, Falcão, Giueseppe Giannini, Roberto Pruzzo and Francesco Graziani were all of an international standard and like when he first began his career at Göteborg, Eriksson had to earn the respect of his players – regardless of his previous achievements. It took Eriksson time to adjust to this new and higher standard, finishing 7th in his opening season in 1984/1985, but Roma finished 2nd behind a supremely talented Juventus side in 1985/1986 and beat Sampdoria in the Coppa Italia final in the same season. However, the Swede failed to deliver in 1986/1987 and Roma finished a dismal 7th. A mutual termination of Eriksson’s contract was agreed, with mid-table Fiorentina immediately waiting in the wings to appoint the Swede as their manager.

While not as blessed with as many stars in every department as at Roma, Eriksson could call upon the incredible natural talent of Roberto Baggio and was also able to bring in his former captain, Glenn Hysén, from Göteborg. Again, though, Eriksson’s tactical dynamism left a lot to be desired against the might of Arrigo Sacchi, Ottavio Bianchi, Vujadin Boškov and Giovanni Trapattoni. Nonetheless, Eriksson led Fiorentina to decent 8th and 7th place finishes in 1987/1988 and 1989/1989 respectively. Sensing that he needed to hone his skills at a lower league again, Eriksson was still only 41 after all, the Swede returned to Benfica. Again Eriksson was a massive success: leading a fairly unfancied, despite their array of internationals (Silvino Louro, Ricardo Gomes, Aldair, Vítor Paneira, Valdo Filho, Mats Magnusson and Jonas Thern), Benfica side to the 1990 European Cup final against Milan and winning the 1991 Portuguese League.

A winning reputation restored, Eriksson headed back to Italy to coach a blossoming Sampdoria side. Despite having credentials for defensive solidity throughout his whole career, Eriksson’s Sampdoria were a permeable outfit in his first season, with the goalscoring exploits of the likes of Attilo Lombardo, Vladimir Jugović and Roberto Mancini proving fairly ineffective with a defence that conceded 48 goals in 34 Serie A matches in finishing 7th. The 1993/1994 season was a remarkable improvement, with David Platt and Ruud Gullit proving to be brilliant signings, and Sampdoria finished an impressive 3rd and won the Coppa Italia. Unlike his previous jobs, Eriksson saw no reason to leave after two seasons and planned for the long-term goal of winning the Serie A within the next three seasons. It never happened however, with a failure to hang on to the likes of Platt, Jugović, Lombardo, Gullit and later Clarence Seedorf and Christian Karembeu, and Sampdoria finished 8th,8th and 6th in Eriksson’s final three seasons up to 1997.

After building an impressive goalscoring dynasty and dealing with departues and transfers remarkably well, with ‘finds’ like Juan Sebastián Verón and Siniša Mihajlović, Eriksson was headhunted by the resourceful title challengers Lazio. Eriksson with Cragnotti, football's first sugar daddy Intriguingly, at the same time, Eriksson came very close to joining Blackburn Rovers, who had fallen badly under Ray Harford after the spending success of Kenny Dalglish. However, Lazio came in with an offer before Eriksson signed a contract, having previously shook on an agreement with Jack Walker, with Blackburn. As well as being offered more money and a bigger transfer budget, Eriksson cited the intrusive English media and his family’s rootedness in Italy as reasons to remain in Serie A. Lazio, armed with Sergio Cragnotti’s seemingly endless supply of money, were an attractive and new-style of project to Eriksson and he was able to enlist his friend Tord Grip, whose managerial career paled in comparison to his protégé’s, as his assistant.

Eriksson went on to spend some £274 million in just four seasons under Cragnotti, a then unprecedented outlay in world football, with the likes of Giuseppe Pancaro, Matías Almeyda, Mancini, Jugović and Alen Bokšić all arriving in his first season – which saw Lazio finish a disappointing 7th, but make the UEFA Cup final against a Ronaldo-inspired Internazionale and win the Coppa Italia against Milan. Encouraged, the frivolous Cragnotti sanctioned even more spending for the 1998/1999 season, with Mihajlović, Fernando Couto, Lombardo, Sérgio Conceição, Dejan Stanković, Marcelo Salas and Christian Vieri all arriving. The then near world-record arrival, for £17m (50 billion lira), of Vieri perfectly summed up the lack of a financial structure under Cragnotti.

Eriksson rang Cragnotti after the 1998 World Cup asking to take Vieri ‘home’ from Atlético Madrid and refusing Cragnotti’s pleas to offer players in part-exchange – with Cragnotti, eventually, not arguing with Eriksson’s ‘out of the sky’ valuation of Vieri at 50 billion lira. This scenario was then repated a year later, but in the opposite direction, with Eriksson requesting that Cragnotti ask Massimo Moratti for an astonishing £31m (90 billion lira) for the sale of Vieri. Despite being horrified and fearful that the incredible valuation would scupper the £24 million world-record fee that had been previously touted, Cragnotti begrudgingly went with Eriksson’s ‘logic’ and Lazio made a whooping and implausible £14m profit.

Lazio finished a respectable 2nd in 1998/1999, much-owed to Vieri’s and Salas’ array of goals, but Eriksson finally managed to shed his nickname of perdente di successo (the successful loser, following his failure to win a major trophy with any of his four Italian sides up to this point) after winning the Serie A in 1999/2000. By winning the UEFA Super Cup, having won the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1999, and claiming just their second ever Serie A title, Eriksson had established himself as one of Lazio’s most successful managers of all-time and as one of Europe’s most coveted coaches at 54 years of age. Looking at establishing Lazio as European Cup winners in the 2000/2001 season, Angelo Peruzzi, Dino Baggio, Karel Poborský, Claudio López, Hernán Crespo (world record £35m signing) and Fabrizio Ravanelli were all recruited. However, the resignation of Kevin Keegan as England manager on 8 October, 2000 shook the foundations of world football.

Up to this point, international management had been seen as a retirement home of sorts or for average managers who were of the same nationality as the international team they were managing. Very few international managers were recent title-winning managers, outrageously well-paid or under the age of 60. The FA’s appointment of Eriksson on 31 October, 2000 completely changed the status quo of international management. The FA was headed by Adam Croizer, a sharp and dynamic individual who was cut from the same cloth as Tony Blair with regard to recognising and promoting the multi-national metropolis that England’s main cities had become, who set the tone for the future of the FA as a commercial organisation. Having been the head of Saatchi and Saatchi advertising, Croizer improved sponsorship and advertising for the England team tenfold and made it a lot more open to the media with the FA’s headquarters being moved from the decrepit Lancaster Gate to the buzzing Soho Square. Still, though, Croizer was the key figure behind making sure Wembley was rebuilt on the exact site that the Two Towers had been demolished and removed Ken Bates and any fears of selling the site for retail purposes very quickly.

From his footballing passion, Croizer sought to bring something different to the English set-up: their first foreign manager. Horrified by the legacy and shambles of Graham Taylor’s kick and rush football and the ‘do I not like that era’, and the failures of Glenn Hoddle and Kevin Keegan after the successful interlude of Terry Venables from 1994 to 1996, Croizer sought to bring ‘thinking football’ to the English national team. With Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Leeds, Ipswich, Chelsea, Everton, Coventry and Bradford all managed by foreigners, nearly half the league’s total coaches, and only Alan Curbishley looking like a viable domestic appointment, the FA were left with little other choice – particularly when considering the mystique of Eriksson. After all, the Swede spoke of his love of Tibetan poetry in his interview and seemed like the perfect Professor to bring culture and class to English football after Keegan’s directionless 21 months in charge of The Three Lions.

Eriksson initially planned to take over England after the end of the 2000/2001 campaign with Lazio, but with a £4.5m a year salary on offer, an unprecedented amount for a manager, he resigned early into the season and officially began his reign as England’s manager in January, 2001. With England 17th in the world rankings and already in danger of failing to make the 2002 World Cup, following a home defeat to Germany and a 0-0 draw away to Finland under Keegan, Eriksson was quickly under pressure to earn his astronomical salary. He soon proved himself as a substantial improvement on Keegan, with comfortable wins over Finland (2-1), Albania (1-3), Greece (0-2), Germany (1-5) and Albania (2-0) before a winner takes all match against Greece at Wembley on 6 October, 2001.

Having been bold enough to appoint David Beckham as his captain, epitomising the modern and laissez faire set-up of the English side which had seen Eriksson lead the way with an affair with Ulrika Jonsson, Eriksson’s judgement was continually questioned by the media. While the 5-1 victory over Germany, admittedly a woeful and stale German outfit, is always remembered fondly, the 2-2 draw with Greece at Wembley was the pivotal moment of Eriksson’s early reign: Beckham scoring a 25-yard free-kick deep into stoppage time to send England to the World Cup. Inevitably, the media hype was stoked when the seemingly infallible Eriksson proclaimed that England could win the tournament and after qualifying from a tight group of Argentina, Nigeria and Sweden, and then hammering Denmark 3-0, a seemingly beatable Brazil awaited. Despite Eriksson’s proclamation, England were yet to develop into the set of world-class individuals that they were soon to become.

David Seaman was 39 and Danny Mills (who, admittedly, filled in for the influential and injured Gary Neville), Nicky Butt, Trevor Sinclair, Emile Heskey and Darius Vassell were not of an international standard. Still, though, the win over Denmark, following painful 0-0 draws against Nigeria and Sweden and a 1-0 edging over a poor Argentina side, left England confident – particularly when Brazil were not among the pre-tournament favourites. With England 1-0 up after a 23’ Michael Owen goal, Luiz Felipe Scolari’s outfit did not seem a daunting prospect to the fired up English. However, Eriksson’s decision to take Beckham, who had barely recovered from a metatarsal injury, to South Korea and failure to build on the 1-0 lead, instead cautiously sitting back, saw England soon flag. After Beckham jumped out of a tackle with Roqúe Junior, Ronaldinho was set free and quickly set-up Rivaldo for Brazil’s equaliser on the pivotal 44’ mark.

With Ronaldinho brilliantly putting Brazil 2-1 up on 50’, with a looping free-kick, but then getting himself sent off for a challenge on Danny Mills, Eriksson failed to react and push on for an equaliser. England were out and Eriksson cited fatigue and their lagging fitness after a long season, following the failure of England to score in the second half of any of the five World Cup matches. Interestingly, with Sir Alex Ferguson planning to retire from football in the summer of 2002 at the age of 61, Eriksson had been approached by Manchester United to take over from the Scotsman after the World Cup. Eriksson shook on the deal despite his four-year contract with the FA, according to Ferguson before his u-turn on retirement in February 2002, but Ferguson was quick to distance himself from sanctioning the Swede’s appointment: I think Sven would have been a nice easy choice for the United board in terms of nothing really happens, does it? He doesn’t change anything. He sails along, nobody falls out with him. He comes out and says ‘the first half we were good, second half we were not so good. But I am very pleased with the result.

Instead, remaining with England and hoping to build on his solid start, Eriksson became one of the first managers to use international friendlies for utilising all 22 of his players, disrupting the game as a consequence, and the net result of this were games like the embarrassing 1-3 home defeat to Australia at Upton Park on 14 February, 2003 – leading to the precedent of the English fans booing their team off after a poor result. Still, though, Eriksson delivered on the qualification front for Euro 2004, remaining undefeated in a group with Turkey, Slovakia, Macedonia and Liechtenstein, and with the emergence of the precocious Wayne Rooney, hopes were high for the tournament in Portugal. However, a demon that had dogged England during the ‘90s returned: penalties. After drawing 2-2 with Scolari’s Portugal in the quarter final, England lost 7-6 on penalties (with Eriksson’s favourites, Beckham and Vassell, missing their kicks). Again, though, having taken a 3’ lead through Owen, Eriksson missed the chance to kill off the game and Hélder Postiga equalised on 83’.

It had been a much different English outfit, on paper, to the one that played in the 2002 World Cup with the likes of John Terry, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Rooney all starting – but Eriksson’s regrettable use of Paul Scholes out of position on the wing led to England losing one of their most underrated, understated and influential footballers of all-time and added to the Gerrard/Lampard conundrum dominating England’s preparations for the best part of a decade. Before Eriksson could move on and focus on the 2006 World Cup, however, off the field incidents dominated the following 24 months. First was the revelation in August 2004 that Eriksson and Mark Palios had separate affairs with Faria Alam, a FA secretary. Then, Eriksson met with Chelsea Chief Executive Peter Kenyon about the Chelsea job, while Claudio Ranieri was still in charge of the Blues, which led to the Swede being handed a desperate 10% wage rise to £5 million by the FA from 2004-2006.

For such a seemingly uncharismatic individual, Eriksson then caused yet more embarrassment to the FA when Mazher Mahmood, the News of the World’s ‘Fake Sheikh’, offered Eriksson the chance to manage Aston Villa when his proposed takeover was completed in January, 2006. Eriksson agreed, if England won the World Cup and planned to sign Beckham as club captain, but went on to make regrettable comments on the backgrounds of the likes of Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard. This, as well as an embarrassing 1-0 defeat (Eriksson’s only ever qualification defeat in five years of managing England) to Northern Ireland, certainly played a part in the FA, despite a Save Our Sven (S.O.S) campaign by many England fans, announcing that Eriksson would not be offered a new deal. With Steve McClaren appointed as Eriksson’s successor, just a month before the World Cup, by the aloof FA head Brian Barwick, England’s preparations were not ideal.

However, Eriksson had laid the foundations for a serious assault on the 2006 World Cup, with the ‘Golden Generation’ of Paul Robinson (27), Gary Neville (31), Rio Ferdinand (28), John Terry (26), Ashley Cole (26), David Beckham (31), Frank Lampard (28), Steven Gerrard (26), Joe Cole (25), Wayne Rooney (21) and Michael Owen (27)/Owen Hargreaves (25) all reaching their peak years. England easily had the most high-profile eleven individuals on paper in the tournament, even dwarfing Brazil’s ‘Magic Square’ of Roberto Carlos, Kaká, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo, but as a team, performances to match were not forthcoming – the late 2-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago was an example of the flawed packing of individuals into a basic 4-4-2 system, with Gerrard and Lampard constantly getting in eachother’s way.

The English media were at pains to say that this group of individuals would eventually click, with Eamon Dunphy commenting that, the usually cynical, Garth Crooks’ lauding of Eriksson’s 4-4-2 system in an interview after the 1-0 win over Ecuador in the second round was “the first time he had seen two men having sex on the BBC.” With Rooney lacking fitness, it was clear that his loss for the warm-up games to a metatarsal injury, a la Beckham in 2002, was unfortunate – but should it have been an issue with Peter Crouch playing so well in his absence? A penalty defeat to Portugal in the quarter-finals was marred by Rooney’s inexperience and his immaturity. Like Beckham in 1998, Rooney’s ‘honesty’ showed on 62’: after an intense 10 second battle and shielding of the ball with Ricardo Carvalho, Rooney stamped on Carvalho’s groin after a niggling challenge. It resulted in a red card but unlike when Beckham was sent-off, the English media were at pains to excuse Rooney due to Cristiano Ronaldo’s pleas to the referee and wink to the Portuguese bench.

In truth, the uninspiring Eriksson failed to rally his players in what in hindsight, despite Scolari’s hoodoo over Eriksson, was a beatable Portuguese outfit. A 4-1 penalty loss followed, with Lampard, Gerrard and Carragher missing their respective spot-kicks, and the Eriksson and Beckham era, that had promised and spoofed so much, ended flatly. On paper, Eriksson’s record with England was admirable: a rise from 17th in the World Ranking in January, 2001 to 5th in July, 2006; a consistency in being the only manager, along with Alf Ramsey and Terry Venables, to guide England to the knockout phase in all of the international tournaments (3) he entered; losing only three competitive matches (excluding extra-time); and qualifying automatically for the three international tournaments England played in under the Swede. Still, though, Eriksson’s off the field scandals, poor tactics and big wages meant that big projects were not as forthcoming for the then 59 year old Swede and it was not until July, 2007 that he got his next job: Manchester City.

With City taken over by the notorious Thaksin Shinawatra, Eriksson, on a £2 million per year contract, must have harboured dreams of a Lazio-like assault on the title with the backing of massive resources. However, the scale was not the same and the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool were miles ahead of City – especially with the miniscule, given what he had previously promised, investment from Shinawatra. Eriksson started the 2007/2008 season well, leading City to 3rd by November with some free-flowing displays, but fell badly by spring with a poor run of just one win in five games. Shinawatra, who had sanctioned the fairly unglamorous ‘Eriksson signings’ of Vedran Ćorluka, Javier Garrido, Gelson Fernandes, Elano, Geovanni, Martin Petrov and Rolando Bianchi, quickly lost patience and vowed that Eriksson would be dismissed at the end of the season.

Despite a string of protests from the City fans, with a similar S.O.S campaign to the England fans of 2006, and the players effectively working to rule rather than going on strike, as was seen in the 8-1 defeat to Middlesbrough, Eriksson was sacked. Despite achieving UEFA Cup qualification, beating Manchester United home and away (first time in 38 years) and an admirable 55 points (City’s joint-highest total in the Premier League era up to this point), Eriksson was eventually dismissed and Shinawatra set a dangerous level of expectations that would haunt City’s future coaches. A day after ‘a mutual consent’ termination of the remainder of his two-year contract, Eriksson quickly dusted himself down, in now characteristic fashion, and took the Mexico national job. Clearly seeing a decent paycheck, with deep divisions within the Mexican FA and the playing squad making it an incredibly difficult job despite the seemingly lower standard of football in North American World Cup qualifiers, Eriksson ignored Mexican fans’ protests to his appointment. Eriksson’s competitive record with Mexico was abysmal, winning just one out of seven World Cup qualifiers, and caused a lot of controversy with the unprecedented selection of naturalised Mexicans.

The Swede was sacked in April, 2009, leading to a mass victory rally of 30,000 Mexican fans. Within just three months, Eriksson was again back in a job. As bizarre as the Mexico appointment was, given that a mild-mannered Swede was being sent out to a country ravaged by crime and inner conflict, Eriksson’s role as Director of Football at Notts County was even more shocking. On £2 million per year, backed by the Middle Eastern Munto Finance, Eriksson played a huge role in the coup signings of Kasper Schmeichel and Sol Campbell but after details of County’s debts and an unpaid tax bill emerged in February 2010, Eriksson resigned. Again, within a short period of time and ridiculing the idea of gardening leave that is always cited by out of work managers, Eriksson quickly returned to management: taking over the Côte d’Ivoire for the World Cup from 28 March, 2010.

Again on a reported £2 million contract, but this time for just a handful of matches, Eriksson hoped to lead Côte d’Ivoire to at least the quarter-finals – given that they were, on paper, Africa’s strongest set of individuals. A tough Group G with Brazil and Portugal made this difficult, however, and despite a 3-0 win over North Korea, the 3-1 defeat to Brazil and the 0-0 draw with Portugal saw Les Éléphants fail to make the knockout stages. Even though this finish may seem somewhat disappointing, the Côte d’Ivoire players spoke of their disappointment that Eriksson’s short-term contract was not renewed, proclaiming that he had performed miracles in balancing out the side. Within three months, Eriksson took the 13th job of his 34-year management career with the relegation-threatened Leicester City on 3 October, 2010.

Leicester were, initially, a hark back to Eriksson’s real comfort zone, a la Göteborg and Benfica with just average expectations and limited investment under Milan Mandarić, and the Swede’s clever use of the loan system led to Leicester finishing 10th and performing admirably in a 2-4 FA Cup 3rd round defeat to the mighty Manchester City. The arrival of Vichai Raksriaksorn and the Thai King’s Power Group in August, 2010 gave Eriksson a potential route back into top-level football but like at City, inflated expectations from increased transfer spending again caused his downfall – with £10 million, a Championship record, spent on the likes of Kasper Schmeichel, Lee Peltier, Sean St. Ledger, Matt Mills, Paul Konchesky and Jermaine Beckford. Eriksson, seemingly, could not cope with the need for literal instant success, despite Leicester being just two points off the play-off places but admittedly eight points off leaders Southampton, and was sacked on 25 October. While a rumoured appearance on Strictly Come Dancing can presumably be ruled out, Eriksson’s options do not look great.

Blackburn Rovers have been touted, but Sven-Göran Eriksson may find obtaining a job in Europe increasingly difficult – given that his last great success, a title win at Lazio, came over ten years ago. The Middle East may be the 63 year old’s only viable option due to the success of the Swedish national team under Erik Hamrén, Eriksson’s wage demands and his poor overall record in England and Italy. Also, when one considers the work-ethic, honour, respect and admiration Eriksson’s generation of managers command and the legacy that they will leave, including Arsene Wenger (61), Ottmar Hitzfeld (62), Luiz Felipe Scolari (62), Carlos Bianchi (62), Marcello Lippi (63) and Guus Hiddink (64), it seems the world has woken up to the fact that Eriksson was, for the most part, an incredibly fortunate spoofer.

Question: Which Italian football club did Sven-Goran Eriksson leave in order to take over as manager of England?
Answer: LAZIO