Even more strangely, after a “takeover” of League Two Notts County in the summer of 2009 by Munto Finance, the Swede arrived through the doors of Meadow Lane as Director of Football. He, like everybody else, had been made to believe that the world’s oldest League club had received major investment that would see them rise from the football league’s bottom tier to the Premiership in five years and wanted to be at the head of that process. Although they were promoted at the end of the season, Sven had resigned in February 2010 after it emerged that the club had large debts and an unpaid tax bill because the owners were not what they had claimed.
After waiving the right to a multi-million pound pay off to secure the Magpie’s future, he was appointed manager of the Ivory Coast for the 2010 World Cup. With stars like Didier Drogba and the Toure brothers, Sven was hoping to make Pele’s comments come true and get an African team to the World Cup semi-finals for the first time. This has probably been his biggest success in recent years, having brought organisation and balance to a team full of flair and had it not been for being grouped with Brazil and Portugal his side may well have progressed.
Finally, last October he was brought to the Walkers Stadium by Thai-led consortium Asian Football Investments, with the task of saving them from relegation and turning them into title winners. He was able to complete the first part of the plan, guiding them to the brink of the play-offs before falling away at the end of the season. But having spent huge sums of money over the summer on Matt Mills and Jermaine Beckford among others, he was unable to live up to expectations and left with the club 13th in the table.
These recent jobs make Sven look like an owner of the game Football Manager, trying to take his team from underdogs to the dominant force. But so far, all his efforts have been in vain.
It is a sorry sight that somebody so successful is now looking for jobs outside the top flight to reignite his interest in the game.
Written by Joshua Robbins for FootballFancast.com. Is Sven bored or do you have another opinion? Leave a comment or follow me on Twitter @jrobbins1991.
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