Former England football team manager, Sven-Göran Erikson, finally reveals why he turned down the role to manage the Super Eagles at the 2010 World Cup. He said he took the decision after he was told by an official of the Nigeria Football Federation that his salary would be paid into two different bank accounts.
Erikson recently made this known in an interview with popular Swedish news website, branschen.se.
The Swedish National said the football federation was willing to offer him the job on the grounds that his salary would be split in two.
72-year-old Erikson however, was among the football managers shortlisted for the Eagles’ coach position. This was done after late Shaibu Amodu was relieved of the role despite a third-place finish at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola and qualifying the squad for the Mundial.
When asked if he ever applied for a job as a coach, Erikson responded, “I’ve never applied for a job in my entire life.
“All my assignments have come about through the results I have achieved. I have never gone through any traditional job interviews, never sat down and conducted any tests or been analysed.
“The closest I have come to an interview is that I met the owner or chairman of the club or national team during a dinner or some other context. But then it was really just about meeting to talk about terms and contracts.”
Erikson added, “The only time I can remember having undergone any form that resembles an interview was when I was asked about the job of Nigeria’s national team coach in 2010 ahead of the World Cup in South Africa.
“I went down in the belief that I would meet the chairman of the national team association (NFF) and that it was really only contract formalities that we would go through. But when I arrived, several coaches had received the same invitation, including Lars Lagerbäck. I was very surprised but found myself quite quickly.
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“After a while, I was called into the room with a chairman who declared that they wanted me as a coach, but with the provision that my salary would be divided into two parts: one that I got into my account and another that would be deposited into another account that was not in my name. “There I refused on the standing. I thought something didn’t go right.”
After Erikson’s refusal of the illicit terms and conditions, Swedish manager, Lars Lagerbäck went on to get the job at that time.