Sven issues 'come-and-get-me' plea to City
Sven-Goran Eriksson has offered Manchester City an open invitation
to make contact over their vacant manager's position.
Eriksson is on the lookout for a new challenge after taking a year
out following his departure from the England hotseat last
summer.
The Swede has been linked with a number of high-profile jobs but
indicated earlier this week that a job at City was not very high on
his list of preferred options.
However, the 59-year-old now claims that is not the case and
actually feels it would be an honour to coach the Blues, who sacked
Stuart Pearce the day after a disappointing campaign ended with
defeat at Tottenham.
'Manchester City is an established Premiership club with great
potential,' he told the Manchester Evening News.
'I know they have ambitions to be challenging higher up the table
and, if they indicated they are interested in me becoming coach, of
course I would talk to them.
'It would be an honour for me to be manager, like it would for all
other managers.
'Every time I visited the club, I was struck by the passion of the
fans and was made to feel welcome.'
Despite Eriksson's admission, former Chelsea coach Claudio Ranieri
remains the front-runner to succeed Pearce providing the
£100million takeover talks with former Thailand Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra reach a successful conclusion.
Reports from Bangkok indicate a deal could be concluded by the end
of next week, although that came from the same source who said a
bid had been lodged last Saturday - a claim instantly denied by
Shinawatra's London-based public relations team - the timescale has
to be treated with caution.
So far, Shinawatra has made no formal offer, and with the transfer
market now starting to get into full swing, City fans are fearful
their club will be left behind because, with no manager in place
and no idea what funds are going to be available, the Eastlands are
hardly in a position to bring players in.
Already, Sylvain Distin has quit for Portsmouth, while contract
offers to Michael Ball and Nicky Weaver have yet to be signed
off.
The situation could get even more complicated if Ranieri's current
club Parma find themselves dragged into a relegation play-off after
the Serie A campaign concludes this weekend.
Even the Italian's eventual arrival cannot be taken totally for
granted as Co Adriaanse, who has also been linked with the job, has
just rejected the chance to replace Erwin Koeman at Feyenoord for
'personal reasons'.
