Sven Goran Eriksson is reportedly on the verge of leaving Manchester City after a terse meeting with owner Thaksin Shinawatra on Sunday.
Reports last night suggested that Shinawatra was about to sack the Swede after City gave away a two-goal lead to relegation-threatened Fulham at the weekend.
Both Eriksson's agent Athole Still and the club have released statements insisting that he will not resign - and therefore forfeit a pay-off of around £2.5million - but neither denied that his sacking was imminent.
Still said: "There is no way he will quit after the successful job he has done."
While there are conflicting reports about the nature of his departure in the morning newspapers, the one thing they all agree on is that Eriksson is on his way out.
The Guardian claims that Eriksson has resigned himself to being sacked after repeated refusals from the club's Thai owner to publicly back him, while The Daily Express claims that he pulled out of a 'big money' transfer yesterday because of the uncertaincy surrounding his position.
However, The Daily Telegraph reports that Eriksson has become so disenchanted with the way Shinawatra is running the club that he is prepared to forgoe his payoff and resign. The paper claims:
'Eriksson is known to have been irked by speculation linking the Portugal coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, with the City job, and he displayed the first signs of his irritation after Saturday's defeat by Fulham, saying: "I don't need to speak about my future, Dr Thaksin does. I have a contract for two more years."
Whether he will go before the end of the season or not is unclear, but it seems inconceivable that Eriksson will stay beyond the end of the season. It is even thought that he has said his goodbyes to many players at the club.
The English contingent on the City board are thought to be dismayed at the developments, with former chairman John Wardle particularly irked.
Eriksson will not be short of offers if he does leave Eastlands. Managerless Valencia were reported to be interested in bringing him to Spain even before they sacked Ronald Koeman, while he still has a good reputation in Italy after winning Serie A with Lazio before becoming England manager.
Your Comments
ChelskiOman
"Jose to City. Maybe Sven to Chelski. they wanted him before"
billers_ctid
"Absolutely barmy. Much as I hate to agree with anyone thinking we're more of a joke than Newcastle, it's certainly looking that way at the moment. We've really helped our reputation over this season and then all the good work gets thrown away by our board acting like incompetent and impatient schoolchildren. As Frannie Lee once said "If there was a cup for cock ups ...""
fla5hboy
"Yeah this is crazy talk. Ericsson has brought some fantastic players to Eastlands, Elano and Petrov to name a few and for the 1st time in a long time been a tough nut to crack in the prem, they beat Man Utd twice this year and went on a 10 game home winning streak. Man City are a team on the up with Ericson at the helm! (As much as it pains me to say it)"
SpudNick
"City were going places under Eriksson. Silly move getting rid of him considering they could have been relegated last year."
PineyVillan
"Crazy. Absolutely crazy. Eriksson has shown what a good manager he is this season yet Thaksin wants him out. This club is now more of a joke than Newcastle."
All comments on this story