The game against Portugal yesterday was Sven Goran Eriksson's last game in charge of England. He was sacked by the FA before the World Cup and had to leave when England's World Cup campaign ended. Despite being a team of talented world class players - a team which, on paper, should have beaten Portugal and is possibly the strongest squad in Europe - England failed to play at their strongest throughout the tournament. For this, the blame must surely be on Sven Goran Eriksson, an overrated manager who had no care for success for the England manager's team and was surely in the job for the money. The England manager's job is the highest paid manager's job in football.
After repeated sex scandals, inexplicable footballing tactics and bizarre selections (such as taking only 4 strikers to the World Cup, two of which were unfit including an injured Wayne Rooney, and a 17 year old, Theo Walcott, who has never even played Premiership football for his club Arsenal), why did the English FA not kick him out of the job much sooner?
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A greedy, disloyal, no-talent snake-oil salesman - why DID the FA give Sven £35million?
By TOM BOWER, Mail on Sunday
1st July 2006
Because you're worth it? Sven Goran Eriksson
The undertakers will today repatriate the putrid corpse of England’s footballing hopes from Germany but don’t expect Sven-Goran Eriksson to stand among the mourners.
Even at the moment of national grief about the failure of England’s team, the architect of that disappointment could only utter the same worthless phrases that have beguiled football fans for the past five years.
Like suckers, millions have repeatedly deluded themselves that behind the Swede’s bland phrases and enigmatic expression was something more profound than the hocus-pocus of a snake-oil salesman.
Last night – many painful years too late – the truth was exposed. After repeated sex scandals, inexplicable footballing tactics and bizarre selections, Eriksson has been exposed as nothing more than an overrated and overpaid hired gun who crudely exploited the timidity and stupidity of the English Football Association.
His reward for failure in England is at least £35 million and, to enrich himself further, he is now touting his memoirs for £1.5 million. Eriksson’s greed and disloyalty is England’s shame.
But just how the FA persuaded itself to rely on an untalented misfit clearly beggars belief. During his sojourn in England, few could explain why a nation of 50 million people blessed with such a rich footballing tradition should have tolerated repeated embarrassments, betrayals and defeats.
But the day of reckoning is approaching. Eventually, England’s fans will admit that Eriksson’s appointment, and survival despite his behaviour, partly reflected the cancerous weakness of English football and also the inherent malfunctions of English society itself. To understand why – despite the embarrassments provoked by Eriksson’s bizarre relationship with the publicity-hungry Nancy Dell’Olio, the lying FA secretary Faria Alam, and his own astonishing negotiations with Roman Abramovitch the owner of Chelsea, and later the fake sheikh – he was still trusted, one needs to go back to his appointment in 2001.
English national football was dying on its feet. Terry Venables and Kevin Keegan had been forced to resign as England managers.
England’s team was tarnished by defeat and tarred by the appalling behaviour of their fans. The patient needed a doctor and Eriksson was presented as the perfect professional. Desperate for stability and success, the FA snatched at the opportunity. Initially, he appeared ideal to administer the cure.
Undemonstrative, apparently professional and blessed by success at Lazio, the Italian team, Eriksson stabilised the wreck and nurtured David Beckham as team captain. England’s fans willed the new manager to herald in the dawn of a new era. His signing-on fee was massive but too much was at stake to reject his demands.
Eriksson was helped by the development of the Premier League.
Every year, benefiting from foreign players and managers, the quality of the game in the Premier League was improving. In that atmosphere, English footballers blossomed.
Eriksson’s inheritance was unique. Unlike his predecessors, he had the pick of the world’s greatest players and the support of the clubs. Just how he squandered the legacy is the story of madness and nightmares.
Brassy, booming Nancy Dell’Olio, spilling out of her dresses, was acceptable as Eriksson’s permanent partner until Ulrika Jonsson, a fellow Swede, sold her story of a secret affair. No one complained. After all, Eriksson was unmarried and his plea for privacy was justified.
But the sordid secrecy diminished his stature, and that was not helped by Jonsson’s revelation that he wore stacked heels to make himself look taller.
His bedroom antics with Faria Alam completely undermined his reputation. While lying in bed with her in his Swedish country home, Eriksson ordered Alam to tell her FA bosses that reports of an affair were untrue.
Inevitably, her testimony of his wondrous achievements as a lover reinforced the ridicule.
The derision turned to anger once his greed and duplicity were exposed. First he was caught secretly negotiating to abandon England and join Chelsea. To forestall the transition, he demanded a new contract and pay increase. Foolishly, the FA succumbed.
Next, he was caught by a newspaper sting in a discussion with a phoney sheik on a yacht in Dubai. He revealed his intention to abandon England immediately after the tournament and that he was seeking a new job. Worse, he is said to have bragged about how he could prise David Beckham away from Real Madrid and made unflattering comments about his key players.
At this point, the indictment against Eriksson was poor judgment in his bed mates and ship mates. The indictment against the FA was equally bad judgment.
Just why they entrusted England’s fortunes to a man whose team was defeated 3-1 by Australia in 2003 and was kicked out of the last World Cup and the European finals at the same stage is baffling.
In truth, none of the overpaid wallahs at the FA’s costly headquarters in Soho Square ever wanted to face the truth. Namely, that their manager is not an enigma but suffers a warped, even perverted character.
Nothing else explains just why his tactics on the field constantly change and why he selected Theo Walcott, a 17 year old completely untested player.
One lesson of life is that if an animal looks like a dog and barks like a dog, it is a dog.
Eriksson has for the past four years looked like a phoney and acted a phoney but everyone in the FA wanted to ignore the inevitable conclusion. Eriksson’s departure will be welcome.
Financially, he has won. As a manager, he has lost. Across the footballing world, his worth is diminished. England’s fans can only say good riddance because they are faced with a far more excruciating problem.
The fate of England’s national team is once again precarious. Eriksson’s successor, Steve McClaren, has limited talents. Worse, above him, the leadership inside the FA is cursed by incompetence and unintelligence.
Resistant to reform and blind to their weaknesses, the FA’s blazers are once again responsible for disappointing the nation. Only after a revolution in Soho Square will the Curse of Sven be finally removed.
Tom Bower is the author of Broken Dreams – Vanity, Greed And The Souring Of British Football
dailymail.co.uk
After repeated sex scandals, inexplicable footballing tactics and bizarre selections (such as taking only 4 strikers to the World Cup, two of which were unfit including an injured Wayne Rooney, and a 17 year old, Theo Walcott, who has never even played Premiership football for his club Arsenal), why did the English FA not kick him out of the job much sooner?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A greedy, disloyal, no-talent snake-oil salesman - why DID the FA give Sven £35million?
By TOM BOWER, Mail on Sunday
1st July 2006
Because you're worth it? Sven Goran Eriksson
The undertakers will today repatriate the putrid corpse of England’s footballing hopes from Germany but don’t expect Sven-Goran Eriksson to stand among the mourners.
Even at the moment of national grief about the failure of England’s team, the architect of that disappointment could only utter the same worthless phrases that have beguiled football fans for the past five years.
Like suckers, millions have repeatedly deluded themselves that behind the Swede’s bland phrases and enigmatic expression was something more profound than the hocus-pocus of a snake-oil salesman.
Last night – many painful years too late – the truth was exposed. After repeated sex scandals, inexplicable footballing tactics and bizarre selections, Eriksson has been exposed as nothing more than an overrated and overpaid hired gun who crudely exploited the timidity and stupidity of the English Football Association.
His reward for failure in England is at least £35 million and, to enrich himself further, he is now touting his memoirs for £1.5 million. Eriksson’s greed and disloyalty is England’s shame.
But just how the FA persuaded itself to rely on an untalented misfit clearly beggars belief. During his sojourn in England, few could explain why a nation of 50 million people blessed with such a rich footballing tradition should have tolerated repeated embarrassments, betrayals and defeats.
But the day of reckoning is approaching. Eventually, England’s fans will admit that Eriksson’s appointment, and survival despite his behaviour, partly reflected the cancerous weakness of English football and also the inherent malfunctions of English society itself. To understand why – despite the embarrassments provoked by Eriksson’s bizarre relationship with the publicity-hungry Nancy Dell’Olio, the lying FA secretary Faria Alam, and his own astonishing negotiations with Roman Abramovitch the owner of Chelsea, and later the fake sheikh – he was still trusted, one needs to go back to his appointment in 2001.
English national football was dying on its feet. Terry Venables and Kevin Keegan had been forced to resign as England managers.
England’s team was tarnished by defeat and tarred by the appalling behaviour of their fans. The patient needed a doctor and Eriksson was presented as the perfect professional. Desperate for stability and success, the FA snatched at the opportunity. Initially, he appeared ideal to administer the cure.
Undemonstrative, apparently professional and blessed by success at Lazio, the Italian team, Eriksson stabilised the wreck and nurtured David Beckham as team captain. England’s fans willed the new manager to herald in the dawn of a new era. His signing-on fee was massive but too much was at stake to reject his demands.
Eriksson was helped by the development of the Premier League.
Every year, benefiting from foreign players and managers, the quality of the game in the Premier League was improving. In that atmosphere, English footballers blossomed.
Eriksson’s inheritance was unique. Unlike his predecessors, he had the pick of the world’s greatest players and the support of the clubs. Just how he squandered the legacy is the story of madness and nightmares.
Brassy, booming Nancy Dell’Olio, spilling out of her dresses, was acceptable as Eriksson’s permanent partner until Ulrika Jonsson, a fellow Swede, sold her story of a secret affair. No one complained. After all, Eriksson was unmarried and his plea for privacy was justified.
But the sordid secrecy diminished his stature, and that was not helped by Jonsson’s revelation that he wore stacked heels to make himself look taller.
His bedroom antics with Faria Alam completely undermined his reputation. While lying in bed with her in his Swedish country home, Eriksson ordered Alam to tell her FA bosses that reports of an affair were untrue.
Inevitably, her testimony of his wondrous achievements as a lover reinforced the ridicule.
The derision turned to anger once his greed and duplicity were exposed. First he was caught secretly negotiating to abandon England and join Chelsea. To forestall the transition, he demanded a new contract and pay increase. Foolishly, the FA succumbed.
Next, he was caught by a newspaper sting in a discussion with a phoney sheik on a yacht in Dubai. He revealed his intention to abandon England immediately after the tournament and that he was seeking a new job. Worse, he is said to have bragged about how he could prise David Beckham away from Real Madrid and made unflattering comments about his key players.
At this point, the indictment against Eriksson was poor judgment in his bed mates and ship mates. The indictment against the FA was equally bad judgment.
Just why they entrusted England’s fortunes to a man whose team was defeated 3-1 by Australia in 2003 and was kicked out of the last World Cup and the European finals at the same stage is baffling.
In truth, none of the overpaid wallahs at the FA’s costly headquarters in Soho Square ever wanted to face the truth. Namely, that their manager is not an enigma but suffers a warped, even perverted character.
Nothing else explains just why his tactics on the field constantly change and why he selected Theo Walcott, a 17 year old completely untested player.
One lesson of life is that if an animal looks like a dog and barks like a dog, it is a dog.
Eriksson has for the past four years looked like a phoney and acted a phoney but everyone in the FA wanted to ignore the inevitable conclusion. Eriksson’s departure will be welcome.
Financially, he has won. As a manager, he has lost. Across the footballing world, his worth is diminished. England’s fans can only say good riddance because they are faced with a far more excruciating problem.
The fate of England’s national team is once again precarious. Eriksson’s successor, Steve McClaren, has limited talents. Worse, above him, the leadership inside the FA is cursed by incompetence and unintelligence.
Resistant to reform and blind to their weaknesses, the FA’s blazers are once again responsible for disappointing the nation. Only after a revolution in Soho Square will the Curse of Sven be finally removed.
Tom Bower is the author of Broken Dreams – Vanity, Greed And The Souring Of British Football
dailymail.co.uk