Eriksson’s done it again (Video)
Yesterday it was announced that Sven Goran Eriksson, the ex-England manager, had landed on his feet yet again. Having been sacked by Leicester City last year after underachieving with a hugely expensive squad by Championship standards, Eriksson has been appointed technical director at Thai club BEC Tero Sasana.
Just how does this man do it? Of course, Eriksson enjoyed an illustrious managerial career previously to the England job, winning trophies in Italy with both Sampdoria and Lazio, including the latter’s first Serie A title in 26 years. Indeed, the struggles of the likes of Steve McClaren and Fabio Capello with England since Eriksson’s departure has even made the job he did with them look favourable.
However, one should not forget that Eriksson managed England’s supposed “Golden Generation” that included the likes of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen, Paul Scholes and David Beckham in the primes of their career and yet never reached the latter stages of a major tournament.
Since the England job, Eriksson’s CV can be described as patchy at best. There was an OK season at Manchester City that ended in his perhaps unfair dismissal, but how many of the players that he brought in for big money remain at the club? However, Eriksson emerged from the Sky Blue mess in charge of the Mexican national team. He duly made a mess of it and by the time of his sacking after less than a year in charge, had left a team that perenially achieved World Cup qualification with ease on the verge of elimination.
Following a bizarre stint at Notts County, Eriksson remarkably emerged as manager of the talented Ivory Coast team in the 2010 World Cup. OK, so the West Africans were dealt a tough group that contained both Brazil and Portugal, but Eriksson’s negative playing approach with a squad that could call on the likes of Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure, Saloman Kalou and Gervinho came under criticism.
After leaving that job, Eriksson turned up in England again as manager of Leicester City and now has his role in Thailand, where one imagines that he is not exactly working on the cheap. Just how does the man do it? A managerial record that has practically screamed failure since the year 2000 and yet he gets job after job after job?
I’ll leave it in the hands of these pundits from Irish television station RTE, as they give their view on the “amazing man” that is Sven Goran Eriksson.
Adam Mazrani
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