Sven linked with County role

21 July 2009 10:06
It is understood the former England manager has been in talks about taking a senior role at the club. The oldest professional football club in the world was taken over by a Middle Eastern group, Munto Finance, last month and the talks with Eriksson are a sign of their ambition. It is not thought that Eriksson's appointment would affect the position of current manager Ian McParland, with the 61-year-old Swede likely to have an advisory role - some reports have suggested he could be named as director of football. Munto Finance has links with the Al Thani group, the Dubai-based investment group headed by the Qatari tycoon Abdullah bin Saeed Al Thani. Peter Willett, a Munto Finance executive appointed as a director of Notts County, is listed as a vice-president (developments) of Al Thani investments and has been described as a "client representative" of the company. The club's new executive chairman Peter Trembling said last month that the takeover was "a momentous day for all those involved with Notts County". The new owners announced their ambition to get the club back into the Championship within five years when they completed their takeover. A club spokesman today said: "We are neither confirming nor denying speculation." Eriksson's representatives, Athole Still International, refused to comment. The appointment would be an astonishing twist in the tale of Eriksson, who has been one of the leading managers in football over the last two decades. After achieving the league and cup double in three different countries - Sweden, Portugal and Italy - he left Lazio to become England's first foreign manager. Quarter-final exits in the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004 followed, and he had already announced his departure before England's disappointing 2006 World Cup campaign, again ended in the quarter-finals. His single season as Manchester City manager, from 2007-08, should be seen as a success but he parted company with the club, who were poised for a Middle Eastern takeover of their own, and was announced as the new head coach of Mexico in June last year. That appointment turned out to be the least successful of his career and several disappointing results in their World Cup qualifying campaign led to his sacking. Should these talks lead to an appointment at Notts County, it would certainly be the strangest move of his long career but a close friend of Eriksson's said he would not be surprised. The friend said: "Sven always enjoyed living in England, and he always prefers working in football than watching from the sidelines." Coca Cola League 2 Promotion 2009/10 Win Outright: Notts County 3/1  

Source: Team_Talk