Eriksson commits to the cause of England

Manager brushes off rumours of a move to Manchester United or the Continent by declaring: 'I am here to stay'

Sven Goran Eriksson last night pledged himself anew to England. He denied he had ever spoken to Manchester United about succeeding Sir Alex Ferguson and insisted he would not "do a Revie".

It is 26 years since Don Revie deserted England for the desert, encouraged by a lucrative contract managing the United Arab Emirates, but the memory lingers within and without the Football Association. It is one reason for the constant speculation surrounding the nation's first foreign manager.

Eriksson said he would not be following suit. "This is the biggest job I have ever had. I have never thought about leaving," he insisted. "As long as I can stand the media coverage of my life, not the football, I will stay. I can stand it at the moment. I have been linked with Barcelona, Manchester United and the Italian national team. Of course I am happy to be linked with these teams, it would be worse if I am not linked with anyone. Maybe after Turkey I won't be."

The latter comment, in reference to the European Championship qualifier on 2 April, was, he added, a joke. Eriksson insisted he still believed England would qualify for next year's Championships, "hopefully automatically".

The Manchester United link appeared to be confirmed by Ferguson recently when the United manager said he believed Eriksson had "shaken hands" on a contract. Eriksson insisted: "I have not been talking or negotiating to any club. You can ask my agent [Athole Still]. If Athole talked to Manchester United he never talked to me. How many times have I said 'no'? Then it pops up again. What can I do about what other people say?"

Ferguson also made several withering criticisms of Eriksson's personality and style. "He would have been a nice easy choice for them [United's directors] as nothing really happens," said Ferguson. "He doesn't change anything. He sails along, nobody falls out with him." Ferguson also criticised Eriksson's coaching style and suggested he was easily influenced by the media.

Eriksson revealed Ferguson had telephoned him the day these comments appeared, presumably to apologise. It is thought, though, that the call was at the behest of FA officials. Though Eriksson would not discuss the contents of the call, he said "it was a good conversation", adding: "I always accept everything Alex Ferguson says. Was it damaging? That's up to him if he thinks it's true. I know what I can do and can't do. I know that over the years I have won some football games in a lot of countries, That's enough for me. Only results matter as a manager and I know what I can and can't do."

In a deck-clearing exercise designed to avoid the forthcoming European Championship qualifiers against Turkey and Liechtenstein being dogged by extraneous issues, Eriksson also addressed Alan Shearer's putative comeback.

It had been suggested that Shearer's initial comments, suggesting he was rescinding his retirement, had been prompted by entreaties from Eriksson. The Swede said: "I've not talked to anyone about Alan Shearer playing for England. Ever. When I heard he was thinking of a comeback I was surprised."

Eriksson did admit that "the way he is playing Shearer would be in the squad, but you can't pick a player who doesn't want to play". He added: "The future cannot be Alan Shearer."

He then reeled off a long list of players who could constitute the future: Emile Heskey, Francis Jeffers, Wayne Rooney, Alan Smith, Shola Ameobi, Darius Vassell, Robbie Fowler and, with prompting, more because of the length of the list than any disrespect for the pair, Jermain Defoe and James Beattie.

"Heskey is getting better and better and scored yesterday," said Eriksson. "Ameobi is much better than when I first saw him. He is getting stronger and his first touch has improved a lot. I'm happy to hear Fowler scored yesterday and Vassell did well on Saturday. It is a pity that Rooney plays very little. Every time he comes on he makes something happen. But while that is a problem for me it may be good for Rooney. The Everton manager is right not to play him too much."

Whoever is called up on Sunday will, he believed, turn up. "I'm sure I will get the co-operation of the clubs. I always do for qualification games. There will not be one phone call asking me to give their players 45 minutes."