Instead they focused on the FA’s support for Eriksson, who has been given a free hand in staffing and is soon to be granted his wish of a winter break. He was reminded of his excellent relationship with his players, the support he has had from fans, and asked how he would feel “walking away from the potential of being manager of a World Cup-winning side” Eriksson pondered these arguments. He admitted to missing the day-to-day involvement of club football but will have recognised his job security is greater with the FA than any of the contending clubs. Financially, too, the lucrative spin-offs from being England manager would make up for the salary differential. Eriksson and Palios admitted that the revelation he had visited Kenyon, the chief executive of Chelsea, on Thursday night, had brought matters to a head. Palios said he was always confident Eriksson would sign but, even at midnight, other figures in the FA were not so sure. Eventually, they shook hands on the contract Palios first offered in November and, at 9am yesterday morning, it was signed.
Eriksson and Palios both “guaranteed” he would now be manager until 2006, Eriksson adding there was “no chance at all” of his joining Chelsea or any other club.The FA’s triumvirate had stressed to Eriksson the prospect of his achieving with England a place in history. The evasions, the careful phrasing, were reminiscent of Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky affair. A formal offer may not have been made but Chelsea, especially, made it perfectly clear there was a job for Eriksson if he wanted it, the one currently filled by Ranieri.Eriksson did not finally reject these overtures until the early hours of yesterday morning following lengthy negotiations with Palios, David Davies, the head of football affairs, and David Dein, vice-chairman of the FA and of Arsenal. However, should Eriksson’s tenure turn sour, should England, for example, disappoint in this summer’s European Championship and then struggle in World Cup qualifying, the financially-strained FA will have to pay him off. That the FA were prepared to take that risk, and give a pay rise to a man who has openly courted other employers while under contract, is an indication of their high regard for Eriksson’s ability and the lack of realistic alternatives for both themselves and their rival suitors; Chelsea, Real Madrid and Internazionale.All of these have spoken to Eriksson recently but none, he claimed, had offered him a contract, they had only discussed “possibilities”. Being a manager is not just sitting year after year waiting to be sacked.
Sometimes you make me feel like I’m a criminal I don’t think I’ve done anything criminal. “I have learned while in England it is more than a football job,” he said. “But it is difficult to understand that whoever has this job should be a saint, should not earn a lot of money, should not have a private life and should not listen to other possibilities in life. Even Mark Palios, the Football Association’s chief executive, said: “There is a lot of water to flow under the bridge before then.”Eriksson was unembarrassed but defensive over the furore his indiscretion, in being seen visiting Roman Abramovich, Chelsea’s owner, in the summer, and now Peter Kenyon, the club’s chief executive, created. I find that very difficult to understand.”If you have ambitions, if something interesting comes up you listen to it even if you are England manager.
