Sven Goran Eriksson may not be everyone’s cup of tea when it came to coaching the English national team however his resume as a club coach is second to none. The Swede can proudly boast to being the only manager to have won domestic doubles in three different countries - his homeland of Sweden, Portugal and finally Italy.

The respective fans of IFK Gothenburg, Benfica and Lazio happen to think that the Sven is a genius and after cashing close to $30,000 a day from the English Football Association this past year for doing ‘####’ all, I’ve got to agree!

But now he’s back in football with the sleeping giant that is Manchester City. Despite myself, I’ve got to say that it’s good to see him return to the sidelines because there can be no doubt that he does bring that cool continental style to the Premiership that us English loudly denounce and yet at the same time secretly admire.

Thanks to the generosity of his highly controversial chairman, ex-Thai prime minister, Dr. Thaskin Shinawatra, Eriksson has been given a virtual blank check to remake a City side that disappointed in many areas last season – and he’s not been shy in spending lavishly but we’ll get to that in a moment.

What Sven has done is basically clean house and he’s done it by turning his back on the product that he’s worked closely with for the last five years…English players. Does the Swede know something we don’t…maybe?

Gone in double quick time from the City of Manchester Stadium are in no particular order, Trevor Sinclair, Stephen Jordan, Nicky Weaver, Joey Barton with Danny Mills and Paul Dickov soon to follow.

While coming into Manchester is a version of the United Nations. Geovanni (Brazil), Rolando Bianchi (Italian), Gelson Fernandes (Switzerland), Martin Petrov (Bulgarian), Javier Garrido (Spain), Vedran Corluka (Croatian), Elano (Brazil), and Valeri Bonjinov (Bulgarian) have all been seduced by the Swede and that in my view is a stunning message to English football!

Here is a man who had the cream of the English crop at his disposal but on three occasions he could only take the supposed ‘golden’ generation as far as quarterfinals. Who can doubt by these signings that he’s telling us that we’re just not very good? Judging by the results we saw at Upton Park I think it’s obvious that foreign players understand his method of coaching. This is a tough pill to #### but based on the ninety minutes I saw his cosmopolitan side play today, one that I may be forced to gulp down. Eight of the players who appeared at Upton Park on Saturday had never played Premiership football before and yet they spanked West Ham with a display of quality football.

For sure, one result does not make a season but it will certainly capture your attention especially when you think of the pressure the Swede was under. Rest assured the Upton Park press box was packed with jackals just waiting to feed on his carcass had he failed.

The same could be said for the City fans that initially weren’t keen on a failed and tarnished manager. Having spoken to a few City supporters recently though, they’re willing to forgive Sven his England follies if he can do the one thing that no City manager since 1976 has achieved…bring them a major trophy. With seventeen, that’s right, seventeen major club honors to his name, you’d be a fool to bet against him.

Eriksson has proven that he knows how to win at club level and he’s also proven that he is consistent at international level with those three consecutive last eight appearances. We slated him for not getting enough out of our players or bringing home the silverware but if City do win a trophy this year, he’ll deservedly have the last laugh.

Until then, get the beers in.