The talk out of Eastlands for a good two months now (at least) has been that Sven-Goran Eriksson, after just one season in charge of Manchester City, was on the way out because of dissatisfaction from Thaksin Shinawatra - or "George Thai-nbrenner," as I have taken to nicknaming him - over the club's results in the second half of the season. However, in spite of an 8-1 drubbing at Middlesbrough on the final match day and a subsequent pair of 3-1 losses to Asian all-star teams, the sword of Damocles is still hanging by its hair above Eriksson's head. No doubt a bid to the UEFA Cup, however completely unexpected and only barely earned on actual competitive merit, has given Shinawatra some pause, and Eriksson's comments to the press have largely avoided speculation, as he talks mostly about the future of the club but in such a way that it can't really be determined from his chosen words whether he's including himself in that future. Not bad considering English isn't even close to his first language.
Here's the question, though: if you were Sven-Goran Eriksson, would you want to get fired?
The initial talk was that Eriksson would be pressured to resign. But why should he resign? He did the job he was asked to do - getting the club into the top ten in his first season - and obviously he's not going to walk away from that kind of money. If Shinawatra wants him out that badly, he's going to have to eat Sven's contract for the last two years. And in the end, it could indeed be this that stays his hand; could he really want Sven gone so badly that he would just write off millions of pounds?
But then, if you're Sven, do you want to go through two more years of this? If doing exactly what the owner asked for in his first season got Eriksson buried by rumors that he hadn't done enough and was about to be sacked, what's going to happen next year if he doesn't get City into the top six? (And with a UEFA Cup bid already in the offing this season, who's to say Thaksin's eyes don't widen to dinner plates again if City start 2008-09 in the top four just as they did 2007-08?) What about in 2009-10, when Eriksson is being asked - no pressure! - to guide City into the top four, a position only occasionally reached by clubs other than Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal in the history of the Premiership?
The problem, as I see it, is that in stepping in with a lot of money, Shinawatra has determined that he should be getting for his cash whatever he wants to get for it. The time frame for moving into the top four is almost embarrassingly ambitious, and in threatening to sack Eriksson so quickly, Thaksin has displayed an extremely short-sighted approach to his ownership. In various interviews with the official club podcast, Thaksin had stated on multiple occasions that the top ten was the plan for 2007-08, and appeared to acknowledge that the club's late-season struggles were due in part to injuries and a general lack of depth which, he suggested, would be remedied over the summer. Now it just seems like he was lying through his teeth. The depth issue may still be remedied, but the very act of acknowledging it tells you that Eriksson does not seem to blame for the post-New Year's dip in form. More than likely, Shinawatra just got greedy, eyeing that early-season splash and assuming that things could stay that way all season without fail.
City have dropped two 3-1 defeats to Asian all-star sides you'd think a Premier League club could have defeated, but you have to consider the sides City put out - in the second game, agains the South China Invitational XI, Eriksson started just four players who had featured regularly all year in Darius Vassell, Martin Petrov, Geovanni, and Javier Garrido. Meanwhile, five players from the City youth squad saw significant time, and the second-half struggles were in front of a fourth-string goaltender whose name I'd never even read before. This is the time at which you have to wonder whether Eriksson was using meaningless friendlies to see what he could get out of reserves and Academy players, or whether he was conspicuously starting subpar sides while right under Shinawatra's nose in the hope of forcing the chairman to swing the axe. The rumors have been swirling that Sven has already signed a provisional deal with Benfica to become their manager as soon as he is fired by City; other rumors had the Mexican national team extending him an offer to be their coach. The mere fact that one of the biggest and most successful European clubs has been so desperate to bring Eriksson in (and a fairly prominent international team as well) should suggest to Thaksin that just maybe he really does have a good manager on his hands after all. But after having done all he can to alienate Eriksson, it may just be that Shinawatra will have to give him the boot, lest the Swede maintain the recent form where both he and the players have started to seem like they'd rather be anywhere but Manchester City.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Monday, May 05, 2008
Sven... and now?
Given the recent history of Manchester City, a guaranteed top-ten finish with three games to go - to say nothing of a derby double over United - would have endeared any manager to the City faithful. But Sven-Goran Eriksson also brought an eye for talent and a stylistic flair not seen at City for some time, winning him legions of fans - most crucially club owner Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin declared his admiration for Sven in an interview with the club's official podcast in late October, saying City were "lucky" to have him as manager, and in another interview in mid-February told of his affinity for Eriksson's coaching style. There were, at the time, virtually no hints of the soap opera to come - in which rumors poured out of Eastlands that Sven was going to be asked to resign at season's end, and that he would likely be fired outright if he didn't.
To be sure, City limped down the stretch after spending much of the year in the European places. And Sven's biggest-money buy of the summer, Rolando Bianchi, was back in Italy within six months. But the majority of Sven's buys did catch on, and the squad was bitten by the injury bug a few times, most critically losing defensive superstar Micah Richards for much of the season's second half. Above all, it was a five-place improvement over City's 14th-place finish in 2006-07, and those Blues scored an embarrassing 29 goals all season, to this year's 44 - still not a lot in 37 games so far, but a marked improvement. City will also finish with more wins than losses this year no matter what happens in match #38 against Boro this Sunday at the Riverside, and with 15 wins so far they've already won as many contests this year as in any since returning to the top flight in 2002-03, and a win against Boro would be the most. By all normal City standards, it's been a pretty successful year, and one that lived up to Thaksin Shinawatra's stated preseason goal of a top ten finish.
But despite living up to that goal, the rumors have been persistent that Eriksson is on the way out. The manager himself has mostly refused to address the rumors directly, but as he repeatedly thanks the fans for the support they have shown him, he sounds like a man satisfied that his days are numbered but not entirely sure why. In his interview on the most recent club podcast, Sven sounded weary, tired of addressing the rumors but unable to deny them. His agent has stated that Sven does not plan to resign but at the same time that he does not expect Sven to be with the club next season; the players have united behind Sven, to the extent of apparently planning to boycott a preseason Thailand tour (which Sven reportedly talked them out of doing), but it's not clear if this is having any effect. One thing is for sure - there's only one man whose opinion counts, and he certainly seems to have his mind made up.
The question is: why?
1. City's sliding finish - a 5-4-8 record since the New Year (after a 10-6-4 fall) - led Shinawatra to believe that Sven couldn't effectively manage a team for a full season.
If he really believes this, he should just sell the team right now, because it suggests to me that he knows nothing about football. True, City were maddeningly inconsistent in 2008 - they beat Man U (at Old Trafford!), Spurs and Pompey, but they lost a heartbreaker-cum-choke job to Fulham in the final home game, lost to then-rivals Everton twice in the span of six weeks, lost 3-1 and 2-0 to relegation strugglers Birmingham and Reading, and slogged through frustrating draws with Wigan, Bolton, West Ham, and Derby, only the worst team in Premiership history. But while football is a results-oriented business, you have to consider that Micah Richards missed the last two months, and furthermore that several regulars in the City side have been playing their first season in the Premiership, possibly the toughest league in the world. Other teams may have made adjustments to players like Elano, Geovanni and Martin Petrov; some of them may have tired out a bit over the rough schedule in a way they might not do in future years with a season or more under their belt.
Try looking at it this way - suppose City started 5-4-8, then finished with a 10-6-4 run down the stretch. Eriksson would be lauded for having gotten the team to play together effectively, and it's highly unlikely that there'd be any calls for his head from the top. The inability to build momentum was a problem, but there are any number of possible reasons for it, many of which have nothing to do with Sven.
2. Shinawatra found a bigger manager on offer.
Who else is out there? Big Phil Scolari is the only name I've heard seriously mentioned who seems like a theoretical "upgrade," except that Scolari has said in the past that he'd never want to live in England, and he doesn't have the European club experience that Sven does. Mourinho isn't coming to City, I don't care how much money you throw at him, and furthermore Chelsea's Champions League breakthrough under Grant proves that Mourinho isn't the King Midas everyone thought anyway.
3. Shinawatra feels jealous of the loyalty to Sven exhibited by the fans.
This would just be ridiculous and beyond petty, so I hope it's not true. But in that same mid-February interview, Thaksin said "I want [the fans] to love me." And they may, but you know who they love more right now? Sven-Goran Eriksson. You fire Sven and you are absolutely King Asshole. But if anything, it's possible that the fan outcry has only hardened Thaksin's resolve - sure, he's going to be unpopular at first if he fires Sven, but ultimately, he's the one with the money. And if his next coach does take City to silverware, Thaksin's going to be able to take a lot of the credit (although the coach is going to get a lot of it too). And then the fans definitely will love him. But that's quite a calculated risk, and again, being jealous of Sven would just be childish.
Are there any other possibilities? I just don't get it. Everyone wants Sven to stay. He's under contract. There's only one game left; after that, it's in Thaksin's hands. If he cares about this team and not his own ego, at all, he'll make the right choice. But I think we're all pretty afraid he just doesn't have that in him.
To be sure, City limped down the stretch after spending much of the year in the European places. And Sven's biggest-money buy of the summer, Rolando Bianchi, was back in Italy within six months. But the majority of Sven's buys did catch on, and the squad was bitten by the injury bug a few times, most critically losing defensive superstar Micah Richards for much of the season's second half. Above all, it was a five-place improvement over City's 14th-place finish in 2006-07, and those Blues scored an embarrassing 29 goals all season, to this year's 44 - still not a lot in 37 games so far, but a marked improvement. City will also finish with more wins than losses this year no matter what happens in match #38 against Boro this Sunday at the Riverside, and with 15 wins so far they've already won as many contests this year as in any since returning to the top flight in 2002-03, and a win against Boro would be the most. By all normal City standards, it's been a pretty successful year, and one that lived up to Thaksin Shinawatra's stated preseason goal of a top ten finish.
But despite living up to that goal, the rumors have been persistent that Eriksson is on the way out. The manager himself has mostly refused to address the rumors directly, but as he repeatedly thanks the fans for the support they have shown him, he sounds like a man satisfied that his days are numbered but not entirely sure why. In his interview on the most recent club podcast, Sven sounded weary, tired of addressing the rumors but unable to deny them. His agent has stated that Sven does not plan to resign but at the same time that he does not expect Sven to be with the club next season; the players have united behind Sven, to the extent of apparently planning to boycott a preseason Thailand tour (which Sven reportedly talked them out of doing), but it's not clear if this is having any effect. One thing is for sure - there's only one man whose opinion counts, and he certainly seems to have his mind made up.
The question is: why?
1. City's sliding finish - a 5-4-8 record since the New Year (after a 10-6-4 fall) - led Shinawatra to believe that Sven couldn't effectively manage a team for a full season.
If he really believes this, he should just sell the team right now, because it suggests to me that he knows nothing about football. True, City were maddeningly inconsistent in 2008 - they beat Man U (at Old Trafford!), Spurs and Pompey, but they lost a heartbreaker-cum-choke job to Fulham in the final home game, lost to then-rivals Everton twice in the span of six weeks, lost 3-1 and 2-0 to relegation strugglers Birmingham and Reading, and slogged through frustrating draws with Wigan, Bolton, West Ham, and Derby, only the worst team in Premiership history. But while football is a results-oriented business, you have to consider that Micah Richards missed the last two months, and furthermore that several regulars in the City side have been playing their first season in the Premiership, possibly the toughest league in the world. Other teams may have made adjustments to players like Elano, Geovanni and Martin Petrov; some of them may have tired out a bit over the rough schedule in a way they might not do in future years with a season or more under their belt.
Try looking at it this way - suppose City started 5-4-8, then finished with a 10-6-4 run down the stretch. Eriksson would be lauded for having gotten the team to play together effectively, and it's highly unlikely that there'd be any calls for his head from the top. The inability to build momentum was a problem, but there are any number of possible reasons for it, many of which have nothing to do with Sven.
2. Shinawatra found a bigger manager on offer.
Who else is out there? Big Phil Scolari is the only name I've heard seriously mentioned who seems like a theoretical "upgrade," except that Scolari has said in the past that he'd never want to live in England, and he doesn't have the European club experience that Sven does. Mourinho isn't coming to City, I don't care how much money you throw at him, and furthermore Chelsea's Champions League breakthrough under Grant proves that Mourinho isn't the King Midas everyone thought anyway.
3. Shinawatra feels jealous of the loyalty to Sven exhibited by the fans.
This would just be ridiculous and beyond petty, so I hope it's not true. But in that same mid-February interview, Thaksin said "I want [the fans] to love me." And they may, but you know who they love more right now? Sven-Goran Eriksson. You fire Sven and you are absolutely King Asshole. But if anything, it's possible that the fan outcry has only hardened Thaksin's resolve - sure, he's going to be unpopular at first if he fires Sven, but ultimately, he's the one with the money. And if his next coach does take City to silverware, Thaksin's going to be able to take a lot of the credit (although the coach is going to get a lot of it too). And then the fans definitely will love him. But that's quite a calculated risk, and again, being jealous of Sven would just be childish.
Are there any other possibilities? I just don't get it. Everyone wants Sven to stay. He's under contract. There's only one game left; after that, it's in Thaksin's hands. If he cares about this team and not his own ego, at all, he'll make the right choice. But I think we're all pretty afraid he just doesn't have that in him.
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