By Andrew Warshaw
November 4 – Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson claims in a new autobiography that he was lined up to replace Alex Ferguson at Manchester United 11 years ago when Ferguson first announced his intention to retire from the game.
Ferguson changed his mind, stayed on and eventually stepped down last summer after 27 years in charge at Old Trafford to be succeeded by David Moyes.
Eriksson says in his forthcoming book that he was approached to replace Ferguson by former United chief executive Peter Kenyon and accepted to take over.
“I knew it would be tricky,” said the widely travelled Eriksson. “I had a contract with England until the 2006 World Cup and I would be severely criticised if I broke that contract. But this was an opportunity to manage Manchester United. A contract was signed: I was United’s new manager.”
Ironically the Swede, who was in charge of England from 2001 to 2006, later became boss of United’s neighbours Manchester City.
The credibility of Eriksson’s revelation was given credence last month when Ferguson, in his own best-selling autobiography, wrote that he thought Eriksson would have been the new boss at Old Trafford had he decided to retire in 2002.
“Sven-Goran Eriksson was to be the new United manager, I believe. That was my interpretation, anyway,” Ferguson wrote.
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