It is a generally-held belief that Sven-Goran Eriksson should have been given more time to weave his magic at Manchester City. Although the Swede failed to prevent a series of abject performances away from home last season, he acquired some exciting players and ensured (due to a strong home record) that City finished in the top-half of the Premier League.
However, this wasn’t enough for Dr Thaksin, who hints in the Daily Mail that Sven wasn’t a strong enough disciplinarian at Eastlands and that progress has to be made in a much quicker fashion under Hughes. Does somebody want to tell him that they won’t win the Premier League in the next five years?
‘I want you to know that Sven is a good man. I brought him to the club and supported him with investment (more than £50m spent last season) and we still have a good friendship.
‘But I want this club to advance faster, much faster. Sven is a good football general, but we need more. We must play with more consistency, much more urgency. In the second half of the season, the slide was too bad, too much. We lost 8-1 at Middlesbrough! The shame of that.’
That was actually quite embarrassing, although it was clear that the players heads were down that day due to, yes you’ve guessed it, Shinawatra already making utterances about how he wanted to replace Eriksson. It will be interesting to see how the owner will react if the Citizens get off to a poor start next term, somebody should tell these people that they all can’t finish in the top four!