Sven Goran Eriksson finally gives up on Liverpool job

Sven-Goran Eriksson has admitted that he always dreamed of managing Liverpool, but concedes that he will never get the opportunity.

The 65-year-old Swede, currently working in China as manager of Guangzhou R&F, was speaking on TalkSPORT on Tuesday  and revealed himself to be a boyhood Liverpool fan.

“In the past, it was always a dream to manage Liverpool but that will not happen,” said Eriksson, who has won league titles in Sweden, Portugal and Italy during his managerial career.

“I’ve always been a Liverpool fan. My father was a Liverpool fan so it’s in the family.”

And like many who proclaim allegiance to Liverpool, it is a family that hails from Scandinavia.

“Liverpool have been doing rather well this season, better than for many years, and I hope they can compete this year in the Premier League because they haven’t done that for a long time,” he added.

Despite it being seven years since he left his position as England coach, Eriksson believes that he still has unfinished business with the Three Lions job.

“There is unfinished business, but I will never have the England job again so I don’t really think about it,” he added.

“But it’s the biggest football job you can have, a fantastic job. You are proud and happy to have it every day.

“It’s probably the biggest job in the world.”

It certainly opened up a few doors for Eriksson – admittedly, most of them led to the bedroom.

FIFA expecting World Cup protests

The World Cup may well be a target next year for demonstrations in Brazil against corruption and poor public services, but FIFA should not be held responsible, according to general secretary Jerome Valcke.

The presence of the world’s media made the World Cup “an easy platform to express concern and organize demonstrations,” he said.

June’s Confederations Cup, a two-week dry run for the 2014 finals, was overshadowed by huge demonstrations, catching both authorities and world football’s governing body on the hop.

“I think it is too easy to put the blame of what happened in the streets in Brazil in June on FIFA or the World Cup saying why are spending so much money on a football tournament and not spending it somewhere else.”

Indeed it is easy. The reason it is easy is because Brazil will spend $13 billion on the renovation of football stadiums for the tournament – many of which look likely to be white elephants come July 2014. The return for the stretched taxpayer will be minimal. FIFA, meanwhile, expects to rake in $4billion tax free from next year’s finals. Profits will run into hundreds of millions of dollars. No wonder the country is up in arms.

Quote of the Day

“There is no other player more professional. Being at a club with Cristiano Ronaldo is the best thing to have happened to me. Why? Because if I let him pass ahead of me he would be mobbed immediately, and I would be free to pass by in no hurry.”

Jose Mourinho explains why Cristiano Ronaldo is his favourite player.

Phone tapping case reveals Wayne Rooney password

An amusing revelation in Britain’s ongoing phone hacking case has emerged.

The notes of Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who worked closely with the News of the World and who confessed to hacking phones on behalf of the now-defunct newspaper, have been revealed in court.

Among the many people whose phone Mulcaire is alleged to have tapped is Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney. No prizes for guessing what forward’s password was. Yes, that’s right it was ‘model professional’.

No, not really, apparently, it was ‘Stella Artois’.

Hull City fans battle against name change

Angry Hull City fans are hoping the Football Association will block any attempt by chairman Assem Allam to change the name of the 109-year-old club to Hull Tigers.

The Egypt-born businessman, who arrived in Hull as a 29-year-old student in 1968, changed the name of the club’s holding company from Hull City Association Football Club to Hull City Tigers in August.

Now Allam, who rescued the club from the brink of bankruptcy and has invested around £35 million in it, wants to change the name of the Premier League club itself.

Allam believes a ‘Tigers’ brand would have more of a “global marketing impact” having previously said he considered the word ‘City’ to be “lousy” and “common”.

However, Hull fans’ group City Til We Die are looking for help from the FA who have to approve any name change.

A statement on its website (www.ambernectar.org) reads: “Our group has already had extensive contact with key figures at the FA, and we anticipate they will take a dim view… of this announcement.

“We remain puzzled that Dr Allam cannot distinguish between the name of his holding company and the football name of the club he owns.

“Until he registers a new name with the Football Association, the club remains Hull City AFC. His belief that we are already called Hull City Tigers, a name ripe for shortening, is therefore spectacularly ill-judged and erroneous.

“Let us be clear – Dr Allam cannot change the football name of the club without approval of the FA, who in turn require consultation with fans.”

I wouldn’t be so sure. If the Hull City fans are pinning their hopes on the FA upholding tradition, things are not looking good for them. One just has to look at the mess they have made of their flagship FA Cup competition to appreciate how little they care for such things.

Argentina keeper takes leaf out of Luis Suarez book

Martínez Gullotta, the goalkeeper of Argentinian second division club, Boca Unidos, could find himself in hot water after he was filmed biting an opposition player.

In a move eerily reminiscent of Liverpool striker Luis Suarez, who infamously took a chunk out of Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic, Martínez Gullotta sunk his teeth into his opponent after the pair clashed on the floor.

It all looked a fairly innocuous challenge until the hungry keeper went to work.