Eriksson's sticking with England

Sven-Goran Eriksson is not about to quit as England coach, with the Swede‘s agent and the Football Association uniting to claim it was “business as usual” at Soho Square.

There has been speculation suggesting the Swede could follow staunch ally Adam Crozier out of the FA after the Scot quit his post as chief executive last week in the wake of the ongoing power struggle with the Premier League.

The Italian Football Federation today denied they had made an approach for Eriksson, who coached Fiorentina, Lazio, Roma, Sampdoria and still commands great respect across the continent.

And while the FA’s executive director David Davies was not surprised to hear the Swede’s name linked with another high-profile coaching position, he maintained the Eriksson was not about to resign.

Davies told Sky Sports News: “I have spoken to him this morning and it is business as usual.

“Sven will be coming to work normally today and our priority is the success of English football.”

Athole Still agreed, stating Eriksson‘s is still driven by securing a trophy for England and building on the brighter points of this summer‘s World Cup campaign.

He said: “Of course in football anything can change – but the situation is there is not a grain of truth in the fact he‘s going to go.

“Sven had an excellent relationship with Adam Crozier at a personal and a professional level.

“For those two reasons he is extremely disappointed Adam has gone – but he is a total professional and is fully committed to the national team. He wants to win a trophy.

“The team were unlucky in Japan and he feels they can do better.”

PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor admitted he would not be surprised if England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson also called it a day – but Still added: “Gordon is talking at a political level.

“Nothing has changed in relation to the players and the task in hand for them. Times are turbulent – but the game itself is unchanged.

“As I‘ve said many times, there has been nothing to suggest he‘s going to disappear into the setting sun.”

Asked about the rumours of an approach from Italy to Eriksson, Davies said: “I am not aware of any approaches from anybody.

“Every time there is a big job in European football, Sven is linked to it - and quite right too, so he should be.

“Anybody who is looking for the top coach in Europe will look at Sven. The fact of the matter is he is staying here.”

Meanwhile, Italian Football Federation president Franco Carraro has sent a letter to FA chairman Geoff Thompson maintaining there has been no contact with Eriksson.

FIGC spokesman Antonello Valentini said: “No representative of the FIGC has had any contacts with Eriksson. He does not interest us.

“We are not used to contacting coaches who are under contract with another federation.”

It has certainly been a turbulent few weeks for everyone at the FA following the departure of technical director Howard Wilkinson to take charge at Sunderland, Crozier’s resignation and the news Middlesbrough manager Steve McClaren was to stand down from his coaching role within the national team.

Davies added: “Our priority is to reunify the game after this very difficult period. Everyone accepts that.

“Adam’s achievements are self-evident, but our priority is to bring people together, to lick our wounds a bit because it has been a difficult period for everybody.

“The game is more important than any one individual – everybody knows that.”

Still was unable to offer any suggestions as to who would be replacing McClaren in the England coaching ranks.

He added: “I have no idea. As a rule I don‘t discuss tactical things with Sven. I never ask him questions because it‘s not my place to.

“He‘ll sometimes give me an idea how he‘s feeling about certain things – but in this case I haven‘t a clue.“