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Millions of reasons not to feel sorry for Eriksson
Published Date: 03 June 2008
By Glenn Gibbons
WHATEVER the immediate consequences of Sven-Göran Eriksson's departure from Manchester City yesterday, they will not include the entry of a new, distinctly foreign-sounding name on the register of the local Jobcentre. Multi-millionaires tend to be unfamiliar with the concept of the 'buroo'.
The former England manager's latest flirtation with unemployment may prompt numerous and widely varying reactions, but sympathy will not be among them. Eriksson's five-and-a-half years with the FA alone yielded earnings well in excess of £20million
and would be followed by a lucrative settlement when he was invited to leave – with four years remaining of his contract – after the national team's failure at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
The arrangement to continue paying him his basic annual salary of £4.5million would, in all likelihood, be terminated by his acceptance of the post at Manchester City, itself an indicator of the probability that his wages at Eastlands would also be sufficient to keep the sheriff's officers from the door.
"Sven remains a friend of the club," said City's chief executive, Alistair Mackintosh, in the statement that announced the Swede's leaving his position "by mutual consent".
With another two years of the agreement he signed only last summer still to run – and, doubtless, commensurate compensation due for collection – nobody need doubt it was an amicable separation.
That obligation, however, is also unlikely to be met if, as reported, Eriksson moves straight from Manchester to Mexico and into the post of manager of the Central American country's national team.
To those whose knowledge of the Swede begins and ends with his eight, largely discredited years in Britain, the ease with which he appears to flit from one enriching appointment to the next may cause puzzlement and even resentment. But even a cursory glance at his achievements before he accepted the inevitably damning job of managing England would explain his reputation and desirability.
Eriksson may not have cradled a precious piece of silverware in his arms since he was approached by the FA in the autumn of 2000, but, for more than two decades previously, he could not have justifiably sued anyone for describing him as a trophy junkie.
During that period, he established a record that was formidable enough to be called staggering.
What distinguished him from most other successful managers from the start of his second career – he was forced by injury to quit as a player at 27 – was his extraordinary youthfulness. Eriksson is now a 60-year-old veteran, but he won his first national cup in Sweden with IFK Gothenburg at 31, his first league championship at 33.
By the time he was 40, an age when most managers are still finding their feet – if not still in search of their first appointment – he had amassed an astonishing four league championships, four national cups and the Uefa Cup (as well as another Uefa Cup final appearance) in two countries, with IFK Gothenburg and Benfica.
It is hardly surprising that, in their quest for a successor to Kevin Keegan, the England hierarchy should be seduced by the achievements of a truly international manager who had, by then, amassed six championships (two with IFK Gothenburg, three with Benfica and one with Lazio), seven national cups (IFK Gothenburg, Benfica, Roma, Sampdoria and Lazio) a Uefa Cup (Gothenburg) and a Cup-Winners' Cup (Lazio), as well as having taken Benfica to the final of the European Cup in 1990.
At all of these clubs, his tenure has been marked by virtually instant success, a feature of his work that seemed likely to be repeated during the first half of his first and only season at Manchester City. Having won their opening nine home league matches (including the first of two victories over fierce local rivals, Manchester United), Eriksson's side briefly led the Premier League and, by the turn of the year, remained in contention for a top-four finish and a place in next season's Champions League.
But their form began to falter after Christmas and, soon after completing the double over United at Old Trafford in February, the City owner, Thaksin Shinawatra (or 'Sinatra', as the club's fans have taken to calling him) made it clear that he was unhappy with the decline.
Before the start of the campaign, the overwhelming majority of supporters would have been delighted had they been told that their team would finish ninth in the league.
This gives rise to the possibility that Eriksson, like mathematicians and theoretical physicists, had produced his optimum work by an age at which most other professionals are still learning.
The honours may have dried up, but the revenue streams are clearly still in spate.
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