by Jonathan Fairfield
9th September, 2012
It is normally the case that news from the Thai Premier League is reserved only for the back pages of Thai newspapers, hidden somewhere between a story on a Muay Thai championship fight and the latest goings on from English Premier League. However, this week saw all that change.
The appointment of Sven Goran Eriksson as technical director at BEC Tero not only made headlines in Thailand but also around the world as news of the arrival of the former England manager to the Land of smiles was featured in just about every sports news outlet going. There can’t have been many previous occasions when news from the Thai Premier League has gained such a global audience.
In England especially, news of Sven’s inaugural foray into Asian football was, it’s fair to say, met with a mixed reaction. Popular football websites and podcasts such as Guardian Sport and the Football Ramble all covered the appointment, with the latter suggesting that Sven was probably eager to work in Thailand more out of his love for beautiful women, rather than the beautiful game. They may have a point!
Joking aside, this is kind of how Sven is now viewed by many in England. Such is his fall from grace since his departure from the England job in 2006, that many just see him as nothing more than a real life parody of himself.
From spending just under a year in charge of Manchester City, who at the time was owned by Thasksin Sinawatra, his last game in charge being an 8-1 away defeat to Middlesbrough on the final day of the 2007/2008 season, Sven’s CV has hardly been free from blemishes over the past six years. Unimpressive spells in international management with Mexico and Ivory Coast, as well as managerial roles in one form or another with Notts County and Leicester City, all but confirm that Eriksson’s managerial stock has been on the decline for quite some time.
But it has hasn’t always been like this. Upon his appoint as England manager, Sven was one of the most sought after names in world football.
A managerial career that began in Sweden in the late 70’s, he guided IFK Goteborg to a 1982 trophy treble of league, cup and UEFA Cup. He then moved onto Benfica where he won domestic league and cup titles before moving to Italy with Roma. It was in Italy where Sven would spend most of his club managerial career. Despite a brief return to Benfica in 1982, Sven would go onto win a total of nine trophies with 3 different Serie A sides - Roma, Sampdoria and most notably, Lazio, where the Swede won the Scudetto (Italian league title) in 2000.
Following the resignation of Kevin Keegan later that year, the Football Association quickly identified Eriksson as the ideal replacement and January 2001 saw Sven officially take over as England boss. The national teams’ first foreign manager, he quickly turned round England’s qualification campaign for the 2002 World Cup Finals. Who can forget that famous night in Munich where England crushed their long time rivals Germany 5-1, in what was arguably the national teams proudest moment since 1966.
A last minute David Beckham free kick saw England qualify in dramatic fashion for the 2002 finals, where they would go onto beat their other long time footballing foes, Argentina, before being knocked out by eventual winners Brazil in the quarter finals. In fact, it would be the quarter final stage that England would reach in their next major tournament (Euro 2004), where they would lose on penalties to Portugal.
Despite the increasing pressure from the media, the England players always maintained that they had total confidence in their boss, even threatening to strike if one particular tabloid campaign to oust him didn’t stop.
However, by January 2006, Sven and the media circus that now followed him seemed to be making the front pages of the newspapers more frequently than he would the back pages, often for stories that were anything other than football related. The final straw came in his interview with undercover News of the World reporter Mazher Mahmood, otherwise known as the ‘Fake Sheik’. It was not long after this the FA decided to call time on Eriksson’s England career announcing that he would step down as manager after the 2006 World Cup finals.
The finals themselves ended, now somewhat predictably, with England being knocked out in the quarter finals to Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Portgual, who defeated England 3-1 on penalties.
It’s fair to say that by now, many in England were glad to see the back of Sven as national coach. Despite some memorable results and encouraging performances in major tournaments, the decline in the reputation of Sven as a world class manager was well underway.
Six years later, the next chapter in Sven’s 35 year coaching career sees him join BEC Tero. It remains to be seen what sort of an impact Sven will have on his new team. There is no doubt that he has a wealth of knowledge and experience to pass onto BEC’s players and staff.
However, there is some uncertainty with regards to how long we can expect to see the Swede at BEC. One part of the Sven to Thailand story that wasn’t really reported in the English media was that he has only signed a contract with the Bangkok club until the end of the Thai Premier League season, which has just over a month left to play. It could be that Sven is in Thailand for little more than a long holiday! Whether Sven’s managerial future lies in Thailand is unclear, with his agent even confirming that the deal with BEC ‘could be very short term’.
In an interview with Sven here, he even seemed to suggest that he ended up at BEC Tero almost by accident after a deal to move into Chinese football fell through.
Whilst Twitter and various Thai football blogs have been awash with jokes of girls on Soi Cowboy hurriedly taking Swedish lessons, one thing that is for sure is that Sven has helped to draw positive, international media attention to the Thai Premier League, which can only be a good thing.
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