Saturday, July 6, 2013

6 July 2007 - He Should Have Listened To Thomas Wolfe

On 6 July 2007, Manchester City confirmed former England boss Sven-Göran Eriksson as their new manager in a three-year deal worth a reported £9M. But he lasted less than a year in the position.

Eriksson had previously managed several clubs in Sweden, Portugal, and Italy, winning the UEFA Cup with Göteborg, then claiming three league titles with Benfica while also taking them to the European Cup and UEFA Cup finals. He returned to the UEFA Cup final with Lazio, where he won a Serie A title and the Cup Winners' Cup. After Lazio, he managed the English national team from 2001 to 2006.

Upon his departure from the England job, he took a year off, then returned to management when Manchester City came calling, making him their first non-British manager. Owner Thaksin Shinawatra gave him a generous transfer budget, which Eriksson used to sign several players, including Rolando Bianchi, Vedran Ćorluka, and Martin Petrov.

His time there got off to a strong start, with the Blues jumping to the top of table early, but a mid-season slump saw them fall to seventh in January on the back of a string of poor results. By spring, Shinawatra announced his intention to sack Eriksson, which he eventually did that July, despite a groundswell of support for the Swede among City fans.

Eriksson went on to make a series of short stops as manager of Mexico, Cote d'Ivoire, and Leicester City, and is currently managing Guangzhou R&F in China.


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