UFO Info Week-End

After that he says anything can happen

“After that,” he says, “anything can happen.”Apart from recent skirmishes with the paparazzi, Eriksson’s image has remained almost inviolate. Eyebrows have been raised by his recent plunge into the pages of the tabloids and by his instinct for commercial exploitation. Computer games, classical CDs, supermarkets, soft drinks, cars. You name it, under the deft guidance of IMG, Sven will put his name to it, which some would regard as his right, others as an undignified dumbing down of a role which already earns him £3m.

The one consolation is that we will not have to thumb through Sven’s World Cup diary in the aftermath of triumph or disaster. The Football Association have rightly censored that one.What is strange is that, after 15 months, we know so little of the real man. Players who have worked with Eriksson talk of his calm assurance, his effective communication skills and his strength of character. When they look across at the bench, they see a man at ease with himself, someone who absorbs rather than radiates pressure, someone who is big enough to do the job Players find that comforting. At St James’ Park, as England made desperately hard work of subduing a surprisingly spirited Albanian side and post-Munich euphoria washed over the stands, Eriksson kept his distance He did not come to the touchline once The message was clear enough.

You are playing, you sort it out.His elevation of Beckham to permanent captain has been inspired. Empowering the workforce, they would call it in one of those Swedish management manuals which have flooded the market since Eriksson’s success.Yet the character of the coach will be revealed as surely as that of his team over the coming campaign when every nuance of selection is dissected and every misjudgement pilloried. Somewhere between now and 2 June, Eriksson will need to blend a degree of tactical flexibility into the 4-4-2 formation which has been his preference since the early days as a coach in Sweden It is no secret how England will play. They will play more like Liverpool than Manchester United, which will put a premium on fitness and endurance in the humid conditions of Japan.

But, for the first time since Terry Venables guided England to the semi- finals of Euro 96, the England players will enter a major tournament enjoying complete faith in their coach.”I have not picked the players because they are young,” said Eriksson last Thursday “I have picked them because they are good. Now we will see if they are good enough.” Much the same judgement will be passed on the England coach over the next few weeks.. On the walk to the Cafe Royal from London’s Oxford Circus tube, you pass several advertisements for one of the England coach’s less controversial extra-curricular interests, Sven Goran Eriksson’s Classical Collection. The CD set is designed for catholic tastes, from the stirring “Dambusters’ March” to Scandinavian works by Larsson (the composer Lars-Erik, not the goalscorer Henrik).