Liverpool FC Forum

Mourinho tipped by Eriksson to lead England

Mark Bradley
Monday August 15, 2005


Sven-Goran Eriksson believes Jose Mourinho has the credentials to be a candidate to replace him as England coach.
Eriksson still wants to see out his contract, which runs until 2008. But he said there would be a long queue of managers keen to replace him in one of the game's most "prestigious" jobs - possibly including Mourinho.

Asked if the Portuguese would make a good England coach, Eriksson said: "I am sure he would - but I'm not going to resign. I have a contract until 2008 and I want to stay in the job."

But when asked if Mourinho could be a strong candidate when the time came, the Swede replied: "Of course, absolutely.
"I'm not opening or closing any doors for anyone. I said once that I suppose the Football Association will choose an English coach but I don't really know and it's absolutely not really my problem.

"I think there are a lot of candidates for this job and there are a lot of managers in England, both English and foreign, who would like to have this job as it's maybe the most prestigious job that you can have in the world."

Eriksson told BBC Radio Five Live: "Jose Mourinho is a character, a good organiser and a great motivator from what I understand. He must be very good because of what he has done with Porto and Chelsea."

The Crystal Palace striker Andy Johnson has been ruled out of England's friendly against Denmark in Copenhagen by a hamstring injury. His place has been taken by Darren Bent, who scored twice in Charlton's 3-1 win at Sunderland on Saturday.

"Alan Smith should have been in but he has played so little football that he wants to play in the reserves for Manchester United as he needs 90 minutes, so we have called up Darren Bent from the Under-21 squad," said Eriksson.

Bent said he was "gobsmacked" at the news. "At first I thought it was a wind-up, that someone was just having a laugh, so I didn't pay too much notice to it," he said. "I was so stunned. I was completely gobsmacked. I told my parents what had happened and they couldn't quite believe it." PA