Rumours of War …
Times: Sven-Göran Eriksson does not have much left up top, but he knows only too well where to find a turbo hairdryer.
Last June the hot gust of Sir Alex Ferguson’s indignation blew across national boundaries to singe the Swede. Eriksson’s decision to field Wayne Rooney in the World Cup provoked Ferguson to interrupt a holiday in the south of France and call him in Germany. Having vented his anger, Ferguson hung up as Eriksson tried to make peace. A relationship once based on admiration had reached an antipathetic endgame.
Now Eriksson looks like he is moving in next door to Ferguson at Manchester City. It is unlikely to be like Ramsay Street, where “good neighbours become good friends”. There might be soap opera, though. We only have to wait until the second weekend of the season before Manchester United meet City in the first derby of 2007-8. The chance to lay down an early marker against a new rival would inspire Ferguson whoever was City’s new manager, but if it is Eriksson, then doubly, trebly so. Rooney – rushed back from a broken metatarsal to appear in the World Cup – is just one grievance lodged in Ferguson’s elephantine memory.
They started off so well together, Alex and Sven. In 1978 Ferguson arrived at Aberdeen. Not long afterwards Eriksson became manager of IFK Gothen-burg. For a while they were mirror images. Ferguson took a provincial club on Scotland’s North Sea coast to victory in a European final. Eriksson took a provincial club on Sweden’s North Sea coast to victory in a European final. Later they got acquainted at Uefa elite coaching forums, run by Andy Roxburgh, a mutual friend. In late 2000, when the Football Association asked who should succeed Kevin Keegan as England manager, Ferguson was a persuasive advocate of Eriksson’s. Adam Crozier, the former FA chief executive, recalls: “Having listened to what expert witnesses like Alex had to say, I became absolutely convinced Sven was our man.”
A little more than two years later Ferguson would have quite different views to offer. In a newspaper interview in February 2003 he said that before he abandoned retirement plans, United had been close to appointing Eriksson as his replacement. The discomfort (United, Eriksson and the FA all had to issue denials) caused was nothing compared to what Ferguson then said. Suggesting that “15 years of me is hard work”, Ferguson noted the Swede’s different personality and gave an appraisal of his placid virtues. Never has faint praise been so damning.
“I think Sven Eriksson would have been a nice easy choice for them [the United directors] in terms of nothing really happens does it?” Ferguson said. “He doesn’t change anything. He sails along, nobody falls out with him . . . He comes out and says: ‘The first half we were good, second half we were not so good. I am very pleased with the result’. I think he’d have been all right for United, you know what I mean? The acceptable face.”
What had happened? Eriksson and England’s early exploits together, notably the 5-1 victory over Germany and the dramatic draw versus Greece to secure World Cup qualification, had produced two bandwagons, one for Eriksson, the other for David Beckham, and Ferguson did not like the momentum of either. He resented the claim on Beckham’s energies that he felt being “England’s hero” was having, and Eriksson, as England manager, was ultimately the one in charge of the circus.
Ferguson was furious ahead of the 2002 World Cup when, rather than remain in Manchester undergoing rehabilitation from a broken metatarsal, Beckham was required by the Swede to travel to Dubai for a high-profile public relations and England squad “bonding” trip.
Worse was how Sven’s bandwagon had rolled into the Old Trafford boardroom. When Ferguson announced he was retiring at the end of 2001-02, he could hardly have expected his employers not to sound out potential successors but perhaps did not imagine that the moves behind his back would be so great.
On the very day in February 2002 that Ferguson told the United board he had changed his mind about leaving, Peter Kenyon, United’s then chief executive, and Maurice Watkins, the club’s lawyer, were due in London for a meeting with the FA. They did not give a reason for requesting (or subsequently cancelling) it, but allegedly the purpose had been to seek permission to offer Eriksson Ferguson’s job. Watkins and Eriksson had met the previous month, it is alleged, and the Swede succeeding Ferguson was discussed. Neither United nor Eriksson has confirmed this sequence of events, but nor did they move to challenge them when an account appeared in a recent book.
Ferguson is of the firm impression Eriksson was poised to succeed him. His “acceptable face” remarks suggest how uncomfortable he was with the manoeuvrings that took place behind his back. Given the help he gave getting Eriksson the England job, he may have even been left with a sense of betrayal from the 2002 episode. What is clear is that relations between the pair hit a low when England returned from the Japan/Korea World Cup. Eriksson found himself having to go to Ferguson with an olive branch (and, you would imagine, ear plugs) when, of all things, an interview appeared in Sweden in which Sven’s septuagenarian mother Ulla told the United manager to lay off her boy. “Alex Ferguson is a threat to my son,” Ulla was quoted as saying. “Sven told me during a phone conversation that it is pointless having national games in April or May because Ferguson, in one way or another, makes sure his stars aren’t fit.”
Eriksson tried to claim that the interview was a fabrication. Whether Ferguson believed him is another matter. It seemed the United boss had set out to humiliate him a few weeks later when he intimated that an ankle injury meant Paul Scholes would not be fit to play for England in a friendly versus Portugal. Eriksson named his squad – sans Scholes – on the Monday and on Tuesday took his seat in the Old Trafford director’s box, where he peered blinkingly at the teamsheets when they were handed out. Scholes was starting for United. “Ferguson’s revenge” shouted the headlines.
Of course Ferguson has other rivalries to pursue – with Jose Mourinho, Arsène Wenger and the manager of Premiership newcomers Sunderland, for instance – but there will be a particular frisson when he takes his side to the Eastlands stadium in August. Rooneygate was the last time he and Eriksson had serious dealings with one another. Ferguson was adamant his striker should not play in a World Cup, having broken his foot six weeks before the tournament and at the time of the injury dismissed his participation in Germany as “a wild dream”.
Given Rooney’s state of semi-fitness during the tournament, his pressure-induced sending-off against Portugal and the time it took him to recover top form following the finals, nothing that happened in Germany or afterwards will have convinced Ferguson that he was wrong and Eriksson was right.
He had a neutral relationship with Stuart Pearce and a queasy one with Kevin Keegan, but even when his good friend Peter Reid was City boss, Ferguson was always “up” for Manchester derbies. He still describes a 5-1 defeat versus City in 1989 as his blackest day in management and celebrated pointedly when United secured the title at the Eastlands stadium in May. Losing to Eriksson in any milieu, but especially this one, would smart. The pair have served 65 years between them as managers, but met in football combat just once. It was in Monte Carlo, in the European Super Cup of 1999, when Eriksson’s Lazio beat United 1-0. Lazio were at full strength, fielding Alessandro Nesta, Pavel Nedved, Juan Sebas-tian Veron and Marcelo Salas, their goalscorer. Their players – who were on £17,000 per man to win, kissed the turf and made praying motions towards the heavens after victory.
United, for whom the game came amid a run of six Premiership games in 19 days, rested Dwight Yorke and Ryan Giggs and used John Curtis, Jonathan Greening and Jordi Cruyff. Losing, shrugged Ferguson, was “no problem to us”. It wouldn’t be the same against an Eriksson-led City. With Sven he does have a problem.
Sven and Fergie: from friends to foes
November 2000 Eriksson is named as England manager after being recommended for the job by Sir Alex Ferguson
October 2001 England qualify for World Cup following dramatic draw against Greece in a tense match at Old Trafford. Ferguson is increasingly disquieted by the circus surrounding Eriksson’s England and its effect on David Beckham, then still a Manchester United player. Ferguson feels that Beckham sometimes gives more for his country than he does for his club
February 2002 Ferguson abandons his decision to retire at the end of 2001-02. He is peeved to find United had been on the brink of appointing his successor while he still had a signi? cant stretch of time left in the job. He was also unhappy that negotiations had taken place behind his back. United have never con? rmed the discussions, or who the favoured candidate actually was, but Ferguson said subsequently: ‘I think they’d done the deal all right. I don’t know for certain, but I’m sure it was Eriksson. I think they’d shaken hands. They couldn’t put anything on paper because he was still England manager’
August 2002 Sven’s 76-year-old mother, Ulla, allegedly gives an interview in Sweden labelling Ferguson ‘a threat to my son’. Eriksson hastily arranges meeting with Ferguson and denies the interview ever took place but the fall-out in UK media is damaging
September 2002 Eriksson omits mid? elder Paul Scholes from the England squad at the behest of Manchester United, who say the player has an ankle injury and is un? t to play. Eriksson is humiliated when he turns up at Old Trafford the following evening and ? nds Scholes playing for United against Middlesbrough. A ‘source close to Eriksson’ says the England manager is ‘frustrated’ by United’s actions and Eriksson’s bosses at the Football Association brand the episode ‘embarrassing’
February 2003 The rift appears to deepen when Ferguson makes some acidic comments about Eriksson and his qualities as a coach in a newspaper interview. Looking back on Sven’s near miss with the United job, Ferguson says: ‘Eriksson would have been a nice easy choice for them [United’s board] in terms of nothing really happens, does it? He doesn’t change anything. He sails along, nobody falls out with him’
June 2006 Ferguson and Eriksson are said to be ‘no longer on speaking terms’ after Eriksson invokes Fifa rules to name Wayne Rooney in his squad for the World Cup ? nals against the club’s wishes. Manchester United believe that the player should be given more time to recover from a broken metatarsal suffered in a match at Chelsea shortly before the end of the Premier League season. Ferguson eventually puts phone down on Eriksson after a heated argument
The Manchester City power game
1973-1994 Peter Swales was the last City chairman to win a trophy – the 1976 League Cup. A Manchester businessman, he appoints 11 managers, ? ve in one 12-month period
Feb 1994 Francis Lee, a former City striker who won the championship with the club in 1968, pays £3m to buy out Swales. A manufacturer of toilet paper, he takes over with City in the relegation zone, but promises: ‘Trust me, the fans will help us to get back on top.’ City are relegated to the Championship in 1996 and to League One in 1998
March 1998 David Bernstein comes in and his reign sees the team return to the Premiership for the 2000-01 season. He leaves following a boardroom dispute over the transfer of Robbie Fowler
May 2003 City’s new chairman is John Wardle, founder of JD Sports and the club’s largest shareholder along with business partner David Makin. Between them they hold 29.95% of the club shares, with Francis Lee holding a further 7.13%
June 2007 Thaksin Shinawatra’s formal offer of £81.6m is accepted. The billionaire former Thai prime minister, right, offers Wardle and Makin £7.2m for their shares and £17.5m for the £20m they are owed in loans. Thaksin’s stake in City is 55.9%, but he needs 75% to remove the club from the stock market
Going, going, gone?
Rumours of a takeover begin last December, and in April this year former Manchester City player Ray Ranson announces interest in making an offer. Days later, it is revealed that Shinawatra has been granted access to the club accounts. The deal is initially thrown into doubt when Thailand’s government freezes £830m of Shinawatra’s assets, but on Thursday the board agrees to his £81m offer. Shinawatra says Sven-Göran Eriksson has been approached about being appointed manager, and promises money would be made available for two new strikers, two midfielders and a goalkeeper
