July 6 – Sven Returns
AFTER England were knocked out of the World Cup in 2006, Sven-Goran Eriksson fancied a bit of time off. For a year Sven chillaxed, no doubt taking time to get acquainted with Loose Women (steady now – we mean the television show, obviously) while he picked up his hefty severance cheque from the FA.
Today in 2007 Sven decided to get off the sofa and head back to work, taking charge of Manchester City.
The times were a-changing at Eastlands. Stuart Pearce had been dispensed of at the end of a lacklustre 2006/07 campaign and in June 2007 City were taken over by former Thai Prime Minister Thaskin ‘Sinatra’ Shinawatra, who set about spending his way to the fans’ hearts, as questions over his human rights record whilst in office arose.
Sven was signed up to a lucrative three-year contract, becoming City’s first manager from outside the British Isles in the process and didn’t take long to splash Sinatra’s cash.
Following Sven into the City of Manchester Stadium were the likes of Rolando Bianchi, Geovanni, Martin Petrov, Vedran Corluka and Elano as Sven set about building a new team.
Sven’s men hit the ground running, hitting the top of the table after a derby win over Manchester United in August. The Citizens remained in the Champions League places for much of the first half of the season, completing a double over United when they won at Old Trafford in February, as Sven became the first City manager to achieve this since the 1969/70 season.
Eventually though, their challenge faltered and City finished the season in ninth place, although they managed to blag a backdoor Uefa Cup spot through the Premiership’s fair play ranking.
This achievement was overshadowed by developments in the boardroom as the season reached its climax. With two games remaining rumours were abound that Sven was going to be sacked by Shinawatra at the end of the season. This off-field turmoil had an obvious effect on the players, as they ended the season with a humiliating 8-1 trashing at the hands of Middlesbrough.
Sven then took his team on a PR jaunt across the Thailand and Hong Kong, but was effectively a dead man walking, as he would be sacked on his return.
Mark Hughes was installed as the new City boss and before you feel too sorry for the Swede, he got over his poor treatment by picking up another cushy compensation package and walking into the Mexico national team job the next day.
See Sven dressing down Jonathan Pearce for his inane questions below and read about what bumbling gaff his former task masters at the FA were up to today here.
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