Eriksson: Leicester the real deal

Sven-Goran Eriksson has revealed he carried out more research before committing himself to Leicester than he did before joining Notts County in order to avoid the pitfalls of his previous venture in the East Midlands.

Eriksson has been confirmed as the new man in charge at the Walkers Stadium on a two-year contract, replacing Paulo Sousa who was sacked on Friday following the club’s dismal start to the npower Championship.

Crucially, the 62-year-old insists “this is a real project” whereas County, who Eriksson joined as director of football in July 2009, “was not real”.

His reign at Meadow Lane lasted just seven chaotic months before he resigned with the ambitious project in financial ruin.

Eights months on, Eriksson is back, albeit this time in the dugout.

Leicester themselves were recently taken over by a Thai consortium. The process has not been as straightforward as first hoped, but chairman Milan Mandaric expects the administrative details to finally be ratified by the Football League this week.

But, after his time with County, the former England manager admitted he could not help but look very closely at the situation before signing on.

“These people are different [from those at Notts County],” said Eriksson. “I met them a couple of days ago and on Saturday so I like them very much.

“It’s obvious the money is there and a lot of money. I have done some checking out, of course I have, because I didn’t want it to be like Notts County, but the owners behind this are real people. That’s good.

“They want to reach the Premier League as quickly as possible and they are willing to spend what is needed to reach that target.”

Asked whether he was hurt by what happened at County, Eriksson said: “No, I don’t think about it any more. It was a pity, it would’ve been a wonderful thing, I wanted to take them to the Premier League. Now we are here again.

“But now I want to be a manager, I don’t want to be a sporting director.”

Speculation had been rife that Eriksson had already signed a one-year deal to join Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal, but he brushed aside that rumour.

“No I haven’t signed any contract, absolutely not,” he said.

“If I had signed a contract I wouldn’t be here.

“I have talks with many clubs in many countries and that’s good. But I’m very happy to be here – I think this is the right place – and it’s England, with the weather and everything.”