The Mirror confirm a story we put on the Sanctuary yesterday:
Sven Goran Eriksson is on the brink of accepting the Manchester City manager's job after having a second interview yesterday.
The former England boss was first interviewed on Sunday by representatives of Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Thai prime minister planning a £150million takeover of City.
Eriksson had talks in London yesterday with Keith Harris, the football finance expert from Seymour Pierce, the company brokering the takeover deal on behalf of Shinawatra, and was told the job was his if he wants it.
The Swede has made no secret of his desire to return to football with City, but his controversial appointment is dependent on Shinawatra's protracted and crisis-hit takeover bid going ahead.
But the revelation that Eriksson is now the frontrunner for the City job has not gone down well with the club's loyal fans, 13,000 of whom have voiced their discontent at the current situation by refusing to renew season tickets.
There is also opposition to Eriksson's appointment within the City boardroom.
And Heidi Pickup, of the Manchester City Supporters' Trust, claimed his arrival at the club would be a backward step.
She said: "I would be disappointed with Eriksson.
"There is a split among supporters, 70-30 against him. He has a good record at club level with Lazio and Sampdoria, but you can't ignore his mistakes with England.
"You have to ask whether he still has what it takes at club level, bearing in mind he has not been a club manager for several years. The whole thing smacks of desperation."
The Guardian:
There will be Manchester City fans whose first reaction on hearing that Sven-Goran Eriksson has been offered the manager's job will be relief that the process of finding a replacement for Stuart Pearce is coming to a close. Others, however, will cringe at the potential for embarrassment. And there will be some giving serious thought to throwing themselves off Joe Mercer Way into one of the pram-and-kettle canals surrounding the club's stadium.
Thaksin Shinawatra, the club's prospective new owner, and his influential adviser Keith Harris should certainly be aware that if Eriksson accepts the offer to join this troubled club it is likely only to exacerbate the melancholy that periodically envelops City's battle-hardened supporters. Eriksson's appointment may delight Manchester United's fans (Harris being one of them) but City's followers will feel little joy when recalling the tragicomedy of his five years as England's head coach and the way he messed up the country's best chance of winning a World Cup since 1966. Uninspiring tactics, shuffling performances, peculiar substitutions and, off the pitch, kiss-and-tells, denials, counter-denials and lurid headlines - this is what City can look forward to if this owlish little man with his rimmed spectacles and stacked shoes decides to accept Shinawatra's bags of gold.
That may sound terribly harsh but you can guarantee that worse will be said in Manchester's pubs, offices and factory floors when City's supporters learn that Eriksson has already had two face-to-face meetings with Harris and is now mulling over the financial terms on offer. A year since he said his goodbyes as England manager, the Swede's thinking in Germany can still puzzle even the most limited tactician. There remains no possible explanation for bringing in Theo Walcott from Arsenal's youth team when, by his own admission, Eriksson had never seen him play. Or for leaving out Jermain Defoe and relying so heavily on a half-fit Wayne Rooney. These are matters that Eriksson will never be able to explain, or live down.