Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Sven’s seven deadly sins

Rod Liddle on the truth about why the England football manager had to go

issue 28 January 2006

Here are a few reasons why the Football Association should have sacked the manager of England, Sven-Goran Eriksson.

1. Allowing England to lose to one of the worst teams in the world, Northern Ireland, in a crucial World Cup qualifying game.

2. Spending what seems to have been most of his free time attempting to find even more lucrative employment elsewhere.

3. Failing to get past the quarter finals of both the European championship and the World Cup despite possessing the most talented and competent English team for more than 40 years.

4. Preparing the ground to take over as manager of an English Premiership team, Aston Villa, and implicating the England captain, David Beckham, in his machinations.

5. Presiding over the heaviest England defeat in 25 years (4–1 to Denmark, in case you’d forgotten) and our first defeat by those footballing giants, Australia.

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