PHIL SCOLARI made one thing clear. If there was
ever a chance of him marching into Manchester City, the job would
have to be done on his terms and his terms alone.
Player recruitment, tactics and team selection would all be down
to one man, the coach who guided Brazil to the World Cup in 2002
and who has carved a reputation as an astute tactician and shrewd
man-manager. Thaksin Shinawatra's emissaries nodded their assent
and gave reassurances that, yes, of course Big Phil would be given
overall control of the playing side at Eastlands. Then again, Sven
Goran Eriksson was told exactly the same when he was considering
rehabilitation in the blue half of Manchester just under a year
ago.
Ten months later and Eriksson's world has crumbled, destroyed by
his inability to compete or comply with a Thai puppet master
determined to run City along the lines HE sets
down. Senior sources at City believe that if Scolari — or anybody
else with a solid standing in the game — decides to accept the
position of Eriksson's replacement, they will soon discover the
description in the brochure bears little resemblance to
reality.
They will walk into a club dogged by suspicion bordering on
paranoia, where the most talented players have lost faith in the
future and where leading employees live in fear of the owner's next
ham-fisted decision. Eriksson's fate was sealed by his decision to
fight Shinawatra over Barcelona striker Ronaldinho and his
inability to provide the former Thai prime minister with a
plaything he could hold up with pride in his homeland.
Shinawatra saw Ronaldinho as the glamorous marquee signing he
craved. Eriksson saw a lazy show pony well past his prime and a
potential source of huge problems in the dressing room. Eriksson
also realised a £35million price-tag and over £120,000 a week for
the Brazilian, who seems bored with football, would have been a
huge drain on City's coffers which, contrary to public perception,
are hardly over-flowing.
While Shinawatra was delivering the coup de grace on Eriksson
this week, his lackeys were scouring both the City and the Far and
Middle East for investors to help prop up his regime. According to
sources at the club, Shinawatra is reluctant to plough in any more
of his own money with City facing a cash-flow problem through the
summer until revenue from television deals and season tickets comes
on stream.
Shinawatra, who paid £80m to buy City and splashed out another
£40m on new players, is said to be shocked by the drain on his
resources.
He is facing another bill of £4m in compensation when Eriksson
goes and another £2m should the rest of the backroom staff join
him. One Eastlands source said: "Shinawatra and his people have
been performing a very skilful juggling act with the TV revenue,
season tickets sales and other sponsorship money. "But the time is
approaching where he will need help from outside sources if he is
going to continue to progress the club. "If help is not forthcoming
there are even suggestions that he might bale out and put the club
up for sale — but at the moment that is a distant prospect."
Shinawatra has spent the last few months trying to recruit a top
businessman to help move the club forward on the commercial side.
He has also already warned that money for new signings will be
tight this summer and his desire to control player recruitment is
thought to be at the root of his fractured relationship with
Eriksson.
Our source said: "Sven will be the first of many to go. The
owner has made his own mind up about what needs to be done and
plans to be ruthless about it. "He understands many people will not
be happy, but the way he looks at it, it's his money, and he calls
the shots."
Eriksson's position was put under tremendous pressure by his
unwillingness to kowtow to Shinawatra's wishes but his fate was
eventually sealed following last Saturday's shocking defeat at home
to relegation-threatened Fulham.
City were cruising at 2-0 only to concede three goals in the
final 20 minutes. Sources close to the Shinawatra camp say he felt
humiliated about the prospect of a lap of honour at the final
whistle, which saw most of the 44,000 crowd turn their backs and
leave within a few minutes.
The source added: "The owner was in the tunnel for 20 minutes
after the game before they eventually went back on to the pitch.
"It was not the way he had planned it. "He has been trying to fill
the ground to capacity, and to him, and the way the team performed,
every empty seat at the end was a confirmation to him that he was
correct in his decision to act — he also saw each empty seat as
potential lost revenue next season."
We have also learned Shinawatra has told family members and
close allies that he had become bored watching the team in recent
months. He was also left seething after flying in to watch them
play at Bolton Wanderers last month. City ground-out a 0-0 draw at
the Reebok Stadium and he was left far from impressed with his
manager's comments afterwards.
The source added: "Sven congratulated the team on a hard-fought
point — the owner didn't see it like that — he thought they were
poor and lacked motivation to get a result against an average
team."
So while Scolari and his people receive assurances of
independence, he would do well to consider the last 10 months. If
Big Phil thought the England job was too much of a poisoned chalice
to contemplate, what price longevity at City?