A little look at Sven and Manchester City
Tuesday, 10 July 07, 05:51 AM · Comments (24)
This site might have AVFC in the title but it's also about football. That's why I'm posting something on Sven Goran Eriksson at Manchester City.
A few of us may have thought it was us and a team from North London fighting for 5th and 6th next season and maybe Newcastle, but now you can add Manchester City to that list simply because of the Swede.
Sven isn't a fool. When he got caught out last year by the News of the World he was looking for an investor to plough money into a club; it could have been any club, Sven just needed the cash to get back into the game. He's found that cash in Thaksin Shinawatra and you can expect him to spend quite a lot of it over the next couple of seasons.
Some will say that it's not nice to have to buy success but when there are so many clubs around us now trying to buy success we've also got to do that if we want to stand any chance. Newcastle have tried it for years, Spurs are trying it and now Manchester City are going to join the club.
Sven is a very good club manager and the money is only going to help him get what he wants wants.
Ask a Lazio fan who they would love to see manage the team and you'll hear them answer Eriksson every time. He may have spent a lot of money at Lazio but he did bring success and as a football fan that's all you want.
Thaksin Shinawatra has just signed off on the spending of £8.8mn. on Rolando Bianchi from Reggina and I fully expect this to be the first signing of a few and I will not be surprised if they end up spending £50mn. in the next few weeks.
I think we've got a better manager in Martin O'Neill because he won't need to spend as much but it looks like Eriksson is going to have his money to spend which means you can't discount them challenging for European football next season.
My only worry, if I were a Manchester City fan, would be who Sven is back in football for? Is he after the United job when Sir Alex finally retires and only at City to prove himself?
You can't help but think Sven has something else up his sleeve but while he is at Manchester City it does lift there profile and based on my theory of a team is as successful as the manager they have, Manchester City have just moved up a few places.
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24 Comments · Add yours
Sven will never, and i mean never, become Man Utd manager for two reasons. One, he's currently Man City manager and two, i can't imagine Man Utd or their fans will want to move away from playing the beautiful attacking football they are now famed for across the world.
Sven is in it for the challenge! and you're having a laugh if you think Villa are challenging for 5-6th (it took spurs a good 3-4 seasons to get where they are now which is 5th) - you only finished 4 points above City and you had a "better Squad". On what factual evidence do you base MO'N as a better coach than SGE?
at Swiss Tony
i've said 'i think' we've got a better manager. i'm not stating it as a fact, purely opinion
I would not want to be a Man City fan right now. That ex-Thai prime minister is seriously dodgy! He's supposed to have had all his assets seized. If he's bought the club with his own money, or borrowed against an undeclared asset, he and Man City will be in deep trouble. It would be weird for a football club to be owned by the Thai people...
you've got no substance to the argument then - Sven has won 17 major honours, how many has M'ON won?
Oh and good luck with the Reo-Coker saga, I'm glad we never put a bid in for him - ruins the dressing room! Even MO'N has said he could cause problems!
I think that the FAs "Proper person" rule on ownership of a club should ban people like Thaksin Shinawatra. He clearly has his reasons for wanting to invest in football that are nothing to do with football. If you look into the reports of his business history I think you would agree with me that he should be extradited from the UK let alone own Manchester City. But I think it will be a case of money talks again.
Thank goodness for school holidays so the likes of swiss tony can join us.
at Swiss Tony
its not an argument, merely my opinion.
you are clearly a manchester city fan and i wish you luck. you have got an excellent manager who, given the funds will bring relative success to your club.
however, you ask about honours won as managers. o'neill has 12 but 11 years less time in football management.
this isn't about who has the faster car though; it was just my opinion. however if you come back in 11 years when all is equal we'll compare then ..
Well i have to say i dont have a problem with Man City, the best of luck this season. However Swiss Tony coming on here giving Sven all this praise, less than 2 months ago Man City had a poll who wanted Sven as the next boss... Only 58% of you wanted him..! I suppose the biggest challenge for sven is, scoring a goal at home..!!
swiss tony please shhh! your making my ear drums bleed with your incessant babbling. Damian has tried to show his opinion, which i personally think is a little generous towards city and all you do is go on about MON! ask any other team in the prem who they would prefer out of MON and SGE as a manager and i know for deffinate what most teams would say! ...and heres a clue hes not swedish!
Who rocked Swiss Tony's boat?? We are villa fans and this is a villa site hence we are entitled to any bias villa opinion. The article is fairly written putting your team in a positive light. However, you choose to write a response that exudes anger and bitterness. Everton and Bolton both have had great short term success because of their management so we are entitled to believe that we can emmulate this. In Martin O'neill we have a manager that many other clubs are jealous of and he would not have been out of place in Arsenal or Man United. In Erickson you have a manager that was brilliant at club level but poor at national level with possibly one of the top 5 team of players in the world. For Man city and their fans I hope he does well... For you only I hope he fails
In this world, you're only as good as your last job. Taking that into account i's say this was a good, fair article also. Sven managed average success at club level and likewise at international. Despite his obvious tactical and passion (or lack of) limitations, he's done alright wherever he's gone, and i think this article was suggesting the blues, even with that taken into account have taken a step forwards.
sven was a good manager over there but can he cope with the pace and agression of the english prem? I think not, he is there for the money and i think he will struggle.
sven will do well give him a 2years and he will have man city better than they have ever been ohhh and keep ur eyes off our mellberg sven :P
There was nothing in that article to suggest that Man City fans have anything to be upset about. Like others have said, this is a villa website and we love our team, just as you love yours, the only difference is we dont go to other teams websites and start arguments or ram our opinions down your throats. I think City are way better off now with Sven and more so with financial backing. Swiss Tony you should be happy that your teams fortunes have taken a change for the better, maybe its this sort of negative attitude that has seen your City go into a tailspin in recent times........
looks like swiss tony has gone quiet
Not sure about sven in the prem, he is without doubt a chequebook manager, but he has had success in the past at club level so he must be able to do something right.
The 1 thing I am hoping to see is with all of these teams now being run by billionaires is that the top 4 isn't so monopolised anymore(except for villa of course!!), sad to say it but the English prem has become like the scottish prem.
I've no bitterness here! All I was saying is that you have no argument for suggesting MON is a better manager!
Also, 5-6th finish is rediculously ambitious for a team that finished so close to the bottom! It's taken 4 years for spurs to get there and you reckon you could do it in two with such a weak squad?
On the Reo-coker front i'm sorry - but I have just had a couple of nightmare seasons with Barton and I know how a disruptive influence players like him and Reo-coker can be. The animosity comes from knowing a fair few Villans who were saying how poor reo-coker is, now suddenly he's the best player in the world!
Swiss Tony
If the article that Damian had written was totally slagging Man City off then I would understand why you had written comments slagging us off. However, he wrote a fair, interesting article that praises your team and wishes them luck for next season.
So PLEASE shut it will you?
Swiss Tony, the best player in the world is Ronaldo and in my opinion he has an attitude problem, it didnt seem to disrupt the other team in Manchester much.Young players have attitude sometimes but i feel MON will get the best out of Reo Coker as he has with Gabby and Gardener and eventually will with Moore.
This is for Swiss Tony
Typical City fan-you boys have such short memories, i bet you were one of the many people in this country slating Sven saying how hopless he is, 12 months later the sun shines out of his backside!
Me personally i cant wait until he flopps cause in my opinion that is inevitable. I cant imagine any British player having any respect or trust in a man who made so many school boy errors so publically!!
Up the Villa! and good luck city, you will need it!
swiss tony how u can compare reo coker to barton is beyond me reo is no where near as bad as barton.Joey barton is a total nut case and has lost the plot.As for reo coker he has the attitude a young footballer needs u see if they dont have this attitude because otherwise some of these big ugly defenders would terrorise him on the picth so many young players are the same.And u cant really complain about reo coker havin a bit attitude really you should be lookin more closer to home because micha richards is exactly the same so how u can slate reo is a joke mate ohhh by the way hope ur enjoying ur time with darius vassell cause we surely not missing him
I wouldn't be too suprised if 4th-8th places included us, Man City, Spurs and Newcastle. Big Sam is quite easily the best English manager at this time. City have a raised profile with Sven and i'm sure a lot of players want a share of that reputation and Spurs have already established themselves strongly in the top 5. Good luck to all teams, but more good luck to Villa ;-)
for me rozehnal isnt enough for newcastles defence, even though taylor is a future england international, and villa's plight this transfer window shows how hard man city will find it to get in real quality, which seeing as they have released half their squad means they are a couple of seasons away from challenging