Sven: Premier League is world's best
Friday, 14 Sep 2007 11:15
Eriksson wanted to manage club football at the top level - in England
Manchester City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has hailed the English Premier League as "the best in the world" and highlighted the strength of the league as a major reason for his return.
The former England manager was widely tipped to pursue a career in another country after leaving his post with the national team last year.
However he surprised the critics by agreeing to take charge of top-flight also-rans Manchester City, who have been bought out by former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
And he has told the club's official website he was inspired to return to club management in England because of the challenge offered by the league.
"Some years ago, maybe the best football you could see was in Italy, today the best football you can see is in the Premier League," he said.
"The crowds [in Italy] are not as big as they were five, six, seven years ago. In Germany the crowds are incredibly big and I think it goes in waves.
"We should be happy here in this country because the Premier League is the maximum today."
In addition to the new money at Eastlands, a number of other clubs have received cash windfalls recently under new ownership, including city rivals
Manchester United,
Liverpool and
Aston Villa.
Eriksson says this new wave of foreign ownership is not necessarily a bad thing for domestic English football.
"Suddenly we have rich men from different parts of the world coming to buy clubs and of course that makes the money big in football. If the money is bigger then the football will be better," he continued.
"Who's going to win the league this season? I'm not sure it's going to be Manchester United,
Chelsea or
Arsenal – maybe Liverpool can win it this year.
"Teams like, I hope, ourselves, Aston Villa,
Tottenham Hotspur and
Newcastle United are better than they were before. It's tighter this season and I think it's good for the league. It means it's getting better and better."