Sven quashes Portsmouth rumours

By Gregg Davies
published

Former England and Manchester City chief Sven Goran Eriksson has denied rumours linking him with a return to England to manage Portsmouth. The former Lazio coach was sacked by Manchester City last summer after a poor second half to the season, and has since returned to management with the Mexican national team, who are struggling to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and face the USA in a crucial qualifier on Wednesday.

However, the Swede denied reports suggesting he was to quit South America and return to English shores with either Portsmouth or Chelsea, who have since appointed Dutchman Guus Hiddink until the end of the season.

"I always said I have contract until 2010, after the World Cup. In football, you never know what will happen but I have a contract," he said. "I have always said that Mexico will be in South Africa.

"It's very important to start winning but I don't think that my future depends on getting a good result [against the USA]. Life will go on. If we lose, we will have nine more games to qualify to the World Cup. But I repeat, I'm not thinking about a defeat.

"Myself and the team are only focused on what's going to happen tomorrow. But it's not bad to be linked with such good jobs. It's worse that they would never mention my name. So that's okay."

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Gregg Davies
Gregg Davies

Gregg Davies is the Chief Sub Editor of FourFourTwo magazine, joining the team in January 2008 and spending seven years working on the website. He supports non-league behemoths Hereford and commentates on Bulls matches for Radio Hereford FC. His passions include chocolate hobnobs and attempting to shoehorn Ronnie Radford into any office conversation.