The Guardian:
Manchester City have set great store by a poll of supporters on the Manchester Evening News website that showed more than 70% were in favour of Sven-Goran Eriksson joining the club as manager. The word in Manchester, however, is that the poll is unreliable in the extreme given the high number of Manchester United fans said to have voted Yes.
The Indie:
Sven Goran Eriksson has agreed terms on a three-year contract at Manchester City but will be confirmed as the club's new manager only once Thaksin Shinawatra has acquired a 75 per cent stake.
The former England manager met the former Thai prime minister, his advisers to the £81.6m takeover and the City chief executive, Alistair Mackintosh, in London on Monday where he was offered an improved deal of around £2.5m a year, which bonuses should take to £3m.
Following the third round of negotiations, Eriksson yesterday accepted the contract in principle and the club have begun to sound out potential and much-needed transfer targets - including West Ham's Yossi Benayoun - ahead of the return to pre-season training next Wednesday. An official announcement and the grand unveiling of the 59-year-old as Thaksin's high-profile managerial appointment cannot take place, however, until the prospective new owner has delisted the company from the Stock Exchange. That process, which requires a 75 per cent holding, will commence in earnest today when almost 5,500 shareholders receive an official offer of 40p per share through the post.
Despite the controversy surrounding Thaksin, who has had £1.1bn frozen and been charged over an illegal land purchase by Thailand's military rulers, there is a momentum behind the takeover saga that could mean Eriksson signs his contract in days rather than at the end of the three-week share offer period.
The existing City directors have given Thaksin an irrevocable undertaking to sell their collective 55.9 per cent stake, while Sky has a 9.9 per cent interest and is expected to follow suit. With at least three shareholders understood each to have a two to three per cent holding, Thaksin hopes to have the support to appoint the Swede by the end of this week.
"Discussions are ongoing with managerial candidates and, once the offer becomes or is declared unconditional in all respects, the club expects to announce the appointment of a new manager," said Mackintosh yesterday.
Eriksson's chosen No 2 at City, Roland Andersson, has confirmed he has been offered the chance to move to the Premiership from his role as Sweden's assistant coach. "I was contacted by Sven," revealed Andersson. "Of course I am flattered [by the offer] but, to really consider it, he has to have the position of manager first."