Svengate

Sven, Sven, Sven. The song sung by a couple of jokers to commerate Sven-Goran Eriksson appointment as England's coach in Feb 2001 (In fact, I think the song charted at No 8 in the British Chart). So what has Sven gone wrong to force him to step down 2 years early from his contract? Has Sven not learned from his predeccesors (read Glenn Hoddle, Terry Venables) who had been forced out of the job due to their big mouth?

Technically, Sven may have been one of the most successful England coach ever. With wealth of experience from Italy, he was widely touted as the saviour to the England team after their humilating exit in Euro 2000 and losing 1-0 to the Germans in the last game at Wembly. He did well thrashing Spain 4-0 in his first game on the 28th of Feb 2001. His best victory must definitely be the 5-1 thrashing of Germany in Munich and managed to scrapped to World Cup 2002 by a last minute goal by David Beckham. Thereafter, results have been successful but not entirely spectacular.

One of the greatest complain of the England job is that most people are capable of picking the almost the same squad Sven is picking but why pay him millions to do that? The second main complain was that he is Swedish. For the birhtplace of football to employ a foreigner as coach, it is totally unacceptable to most Brits. The third and main complain is Sven's personal life. It all started with Ulrika Johnson. Ulrika who? Well she is a famous host in UK and somehow the papers started linking them together. The public accepted Sven and then came the secretary story. Sven allegedly had sexual contacts with a secretary in the FA. Still the public was tolerant. The last straw was when he fell for the oldest trick in the book. Dispicable but yet greatly welcome by the public, the fake sheikh act had enticed tons of people ranging from royalty to celebrities to dig up any dirt. So Sven's position became untenable and thus adios after the World Cup.

So what is next for England? Will they appoint an English manager? I sincerely hope so and maybe gambling on young talents such as Stuart Pearce may revived the squad. Nevertheless, I am still supporting England for the World Cup.

PS: Never really like Eriksson! For one, he walked away from Blackburn when he had already promised to leave Lazio for Blackburn. Bleah!