Sven-Goran Eirksson To Notts County!

[Hobo]

Sven-Goran Eriksson insists he can take Notts County from League Two to the Premier League after signing a five-year deal as director of football.

The former England manager spelt out the ambitious plan, which comes after the club was taken over by a Middle-Eastern consortium last week.

"It is the biggest football challenge of my life to take Notts County to the Premier League," he said.

"I could have gone elsewhere and earned more but I'm here for the challenge."

Eriksson, 61, will work alongside current manager Ian McParland with the aim of getting promoted from League Two "as soon as possible".

"I always wanted to come back to the Premier League because it is the best League in the world," said the Swede.

"I have chosen a little bit more of a difficult way to do it. It will take some years, but after speaking to the chairman Peter Trembling and the investors, I am sure we will do it.

"We are starting from the bottom of the bottom and trying to take it to the top. Hopefully that will happen."

Notts County chairman Peter Trembling outlined Eriksson's newly created role at the club.

"The director of football is a key position in a football club and Sven has the right contacts, the right knowledge and he can support the manager and academy and raise the profile of Notts County," he said.

"Ian and Sven will work together. Ian knows the division and it will be all about team-work. Sven is here for the long term.

"Now we need to look at getting the right players in to get this club to the Championship in the next five years."

McParland, who also played for the club in the 1980s, said he was delighted with the opportunity to work with Eriksson.

"To be honest, when the chairman Peter told me I said, it's not April yet!

The dream and the target is to reach the Premier League, for the fans, for the club, for everyone

Sven-Goran Eriksson

"I would never have dreamt of someone of Sven's standing coming to Notts County. It is fantastic, he's got a lot of knowledge, he has been at big clubs all around the world.

"And he's managed England," the Scotsman added. "But I won't hold that against him."

Eriksson, who confirmed he plans to live in Nottingham, admitted he has limited knowledge of the league he will be working in but he is confident his relationship with McParland will help overcome that.

"I don't know League Two at all but I have discussed with Ian McParland what we need," he said.

"To start with we have to find good players, without good players we can't reach League One and the Championship and so on."

Eriksson started his managerial career in lower-league football with Degerfors in Sweden and insisted he was not naive about the size of the task ahead.

"It is going to be different but I look forward to that," he explained. "I started as a player at this level - and here I am again.

"The dream and the target is to reach the Premier League, for the fans, for the club, for everyone."

This should be interesting. It will no doubt take time to get Notts County to the Premier League but Fulham, Wigan and Hull have proved that it isn't impossible.

[therockbox]

"I could have gone elsewhere and earned more but I'm here for the challenge."

Does he really expect people to believe this?

[Thomas]

How much do you think he's earning then!? :S

[Adam]

Notts County...Premier League...

No. Sorry, but no. Not in the next five years, anyway. Bringing Sven in as DoF isn't gonna work, what does he know about lower league football?

[Crybaby Bunting]

It's Gretna syndrome once again, although these backers look like they mean it.

And it makes perfect sense come to think of it, this club will have cost them about £1m maximum, likely to be around £400k and could easily find their way into the Championship within two seasons with some smart signings.

So you could end up with a Championship club in three years time that could cost as little as £10m to get there.

[METALMAN]

How the mighty have fallen. My ex was a Notts Forest fan so I'll be wishing Sven well in his new job!

[Lowerdeck]

Maybe if he was starting from League One, but League Two? Wow, that's a challenge.

[Pesci]

I love Sven and I like it when random lower league teams do well so I'll be wishing them all the best. Until they get to the Prem and help to ruin football by spending their dirty oil money :@

I assume it's oil money anyway. What else do the Middle East have?

[Bigal]

Sand. Lots of sand.

But yeah, I've always liked Sven, so good luck to him.

[Bobfoc]

I have been a Notts County fan all my life, and I can now say that I will probably never be surprised by anything ever again. Things are looking exciting, but I think people are getting carried away with their predictions that Notts will cruise up to the Premiership within the next five years. To be honest, while they have made a few decent signings this summer, I would be surprised if they even finished above mid-table this season unless several new, decent players are signed in the next couple of weeks.

[Crybaby Bunting]

It's not as if all the money in the world wouldn't get you into the Premiership

Oh, hello QPR ¬_¬

[Ben E.]

Can he really have the desired impact if he's a director of football?

Loved the Notts fans on Sky Sports News. Maybe they borrowed some Newcastle fans, because it was that level of dillusion.

[britneyspearsisgod]

Hey, if they can make it work, then fair play to them. Regardless of his motives or reasoning, he has a good level of contacts and knowledge that can at the very least get them around the bottom of the Championship. Premiership straight away may be a stretch, but they will definitely move forwards if they utilize both Sven and Ian McParland to the fullest potential possible.

[Mike Widdows]

Its obvious what will happen, They don't do as well as thought, McParland gets sacked, Eriksson becomes manager, fans protest, as McPartland's a hero i gather, then Notts County fans want the board out....

[Pesci]

Would the fans really protest at having Eriksson as manager?

[Mike Widdows]

Well not that, the fact that a club hero has been sacked, theres no doubt the new owners are waiting for him to slip up already so they can have Sven in charge

[METALMAN]

He hasn't actually been sacked yet.

[Adam]

Well not that, the fact that a club hero has been sacked, theres no doubt the new owners are waiting for him to slip up already so they can have Sven in charge

I don't think they are. When new owners come in they often prefer to bring in a new manager as they want their man, if they had wanted to the new owners could have just told McParland he wasn't part of their plans and drafted in Sven as manager.

[Spee]

There is absolutely no chance Notts County will come even close to going up this year. I fully expect McParland to be replaced by Eriksson by Christmas and by then it'll be too late to mount a serious challenge.

[Adam]

You don't think they've got a chance? Lee Hughes and Luke Rodgers is no bad strikeforce, I expect Hughes to score 20+ this season.