Manchester City have reportedly offered Luis Felipe Scolari the managers job at Eastlands - but have told him he must accept before the European Championships.
Various newspapers report that the current Portugal coach has been offered a contract worth around £3million a year to take over from Sven Goran Eriksson, who is certain to be sacked at the end of the season.
Apart from the folly of ridding themselves of their most successful manager in years, the concern among City fans has been that, if Scolari was offered the job, he would not be able to start work until mid-July, with half of pre-season gone already.
However, both The Times and The Independent report that Thaksin Shinawatra plans to attempt to overcome that hurdle by insisting that Scolari gives City an answer before Euro 2008.
They claim: 'Scolari is understood to be interested by City's proposal, which was put to him by Taweesuk "Jack" Srisumrid, the club's executive director, and an intermediary who is believed to be Brazilian. However, Scolari is concerned by Thaksin's insistence on an immediate response and would prefer to wait until after the finals in Austria and Switzerland before making a decision on his future.'
While Scolari may be interested in the job - not least because it will be a dramatic improvement on his salary from the Portuguese FA - City fans will be reminded of the last time the Brazilian was offered a position held by Eriksson.
Scolari provisionally agreed to take the England job in the summer of 2006, but as The Times states 'he would not be pressed into a formal acceptance that might jeopardise Portugal's hopes in the World Cup finals that were to follow a few weeks later.'
Your Comments
mikemoutinho
"ahahahaha.... take him .. PLZ, this man is one of the most over rated managers in international football. Don't be fooled, Portugal has done well DESPITE him, not because of him. This move would be a definite downgrade from Sven!"
billers_ctid
"ChelskiOman; you make a good point. I would have to say though that there's a big distinction to be made between the club not deserving a decent manager and the fans not deserving a decent manager. The way Thaskin's handled this whole situation is bizarre but 96% of the fans have been behind Eriksson in this rather than the board. For my money, the only person we could possibly gt in that would fit all the parameters we need to be looking at would be your boy Mourinho but can you see him going to City ahead of Milan or Madrid? We'd have to dangle ridiculous money under his nose and even then, it was an interfering board that saw him leave Chelsea. Why would he go back to that? Still, Sam Allardyce is out of work. Strewth ... "
ChelskiOman
"A shame to see Man City go this way. We could have done with a strong City to rival Manu. City don't deserve anyone now. Unless Jose goes there to put a fright into Manu. Unless the "Chosen One" is going to take Sir Fergie's place. Chelski Oman"
All comments on this story