Eriksson tells Ranieri he doesn’t want Chelsea job

SVEN-GORAN ERIKSSON has assured Claudio Ranieri he has no intention of replacing him at Chelsea, as the Swede restated his determination to stay on as England boss until at least next summer.

However, Eriksson admitted his future could be taken out of his hands if England fail to qualify for the Euro 2004 finals in Portugal.

The England coach was at pains to stress ahead of tomorrow’s friendly against Croatia at Portman Road that his friendship with Chelsea boss Roman Abramovich has no bearing on his future management plans. Then again, while accepting his photographed meeting with Abramovich soon after the Russian’s takeover was badly timed, Eriksson admits there is little he can do to convince sceptics of his desire to stay with England.

After all, there is a growing view Eriksson will only stay on beyond next summer if England do well at the Euro 2004 finals and have a realistic chance of winning the World Cup in 2006. The Swede admitted: “In life, you never know. I think that England will qualify, but, if they don’t, then no one will want me any more. That’s life.

“People in this country know that better than I do. But please, don’t let us talk about what will happen if we don’t qualify as that’s very negative.

“The only proof I can give is the fact that I’m sitting here. I suppose it will go on like this as there’s nothing else I can do about it.

“Let’s just try to beat Croatia, qualify and do a good championships. Then let’s see what happens, but I can still see myself being England manager up to the 2006 World Cup.”

Eriksson did himself no favours by agreeing to have tea with Abramovich at his London home earlier this summer, seemingly before the Russian had even met Ranieri. Eriksson said: “I’ve talked to Claudio since then, but what more can I say to him?

“I have seen Mr Abramovich many times before. Did he ask me to become Chelsea manager? Of course not. I was first presented to him some time ago by Pini Zahavi, the agent hired by Abramovich to broker Chelsea’s summer spending spree

“I’ve known Zahavi since I was manager of Benfica and he was involved in some transfers. We’ve eaten together and, on one occasion, I met Mr Abramovich. That he bought Chelsea was a big surprise. I knew he was planning to go into football and was also thinking about Formula One. But when you’re invited to take a cup of tea at the house of a friend, and you’re not going there to discuss a contract, I am not rude. I don’t know how many times I’ve been to Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein’s house and I hope that I’m not supposed to be the next Arsenal manager.

“Of course, we talk about football. I meet other managers, say Sir Alex Ferguson, and they phone me sometimes to ask me what I think about a player. I think that’s normal for a club or national manager. Of course, we talk football. We don’t talk about the weather or cars.”