UNITED KINGDOM: SOCCER / FOOTBALL - Reaction to World Cup-winning Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari who is expected to be offered the job of England national team manager

Record ID: 587933

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: SOCCER / FOOTBALL - Reaction to World Cup-winning Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari who is expected to be offered the job of England national team manager
  • Date: 28th April 2006
  • Summary: (S3) FILE (LISBON, PORTUGAL - DECEMBER 14, 2002) (REUTERS) MID VIEW: COLARI RECEIVES PORTUGAL TEAM JERSEY AND JACKET ON APPOINTMENT AS NATIONAL COACH FROM FOOTBALL FEDERATION PRESIDENT GILERTO MADAIL
  • Embargoed: 13th May 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA1ZGP5XOR57Z1QADVYT7LGX08P
  • Story Text: World Cup-winning Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari is expected to be offered the job of England national team manager although a wave of speculation on Thursday (April 27) was met by a tight-lipped Football Association (FA).
    FA chief executive Brian Barwick flew to Lisbon on Wednesday for talks with Scolari, who is currently coach of Portugal.
    The current -- and first foreign -- manager of England, Sven-Goran Eriksson of Sweden, will leave after the World Cup, when Scolari's contract with Portugal also expires. The 57-year-old Brazilian, who led Brazil to their 2002 World Cup triumph and took Portugal to the final of Euro 2004, knocking out England on both occasions, has become a surprise front-runner.
    Englishmen Steve McClaren, Alan Curbishley and Sam Allardyce, along with Martin O'Neill of Northern Ireland, were early favourites.
    Any decision to appoint Scolari would have to be agreed by the FA Board, who are due to meet next Thursday (May 4).
    Scolari is a proven winner with a wealth of international experience and is reported to have been offered three million pounds ($5.35 million) a year -- an estimated two million less than Eriksson -- but his appointment would still cause some controversy.
    The man known in Brazil as 'Big Phil' would not be welcomed by those who want a home-grown candidate to take over from Eriksson.
    When FA boss Barwick returned to his office in London on Thursday all he would say was: "I think it's well evident that we were in Lisbon yesterday talking to Felipe Scolari as part of our ongoing process to recruit the next England senior national coach for this autumn and that process continues apace."
    Stuart Pearce, who reached the 1990 World Cup semi-finals with England as a player and is now Manchester City boss, said: "He'll have my support as a club manager if he's the England manager and that goes for anybody who gets the England job, they'll have my full support. If he needs any of my players at any one time, we'll never, ever stand in the way of players going to represent their countries and you know we're right behind them."
    Current England manager Eriksson commented: "I don't know anything about it and I don't want to know anything about it. What I'm concentrated on in this moment, which is the only important thing for me, is the World Cup."
    Scolari has no doubts about his ability or his interest in the job.
    In a recent interview with the BBC, the Brazilian said: "I am a good coach and I am doing a very good job in Portugal."
    Asked if he would like the England job, Scolari said: "I (would) like the job, yes. But I know if I want to coach the English national team I need to learn the language more and I need to know more about the national team job."
    Scolari had been 16-1 in betting on who would succeed Eriksson but the odds were slashed to 5-2 on Monday after weekend media reports strongly linking him with the job.
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