Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra announced on Friday he had gained effective control of Manchester City.
LONDON: Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra announced on Friday he had gained effective control of Manchester City, paving the way for Sven-Goran Eriksson to be appointed team manager.
Thaksin, who is in exile in Britain after being ousted in a bloodless military coup in September, announced on the Plus Markets stock exchange that the Manchester City board and the other shareholders had waived any opposition to his taking over the club through his company UK Sports Investments Limited.
City called a news conference for 3 pm at which it was expected to announce Eriksson as the new manager.
Eriksson, who has been at City's training camp with the players for the past two days, is set to sign a three-year deal worth a reported 9 millions pounds as he bids to transform the ailing club into a title contender.
City, which last won the league championship 1968, has not won a major title since 1976 and has been in the shadow of neighbor Manchester United for four decades.
England has had the same lack of success over roughly the same time span, winning nothing since the 1966 World Cup.
In his five-year spell in charge of the national team, Eriksson had the most talented group of players for more than 30 years and failed to get England past the quarterfinals of two World Cups and a European Championship.
But the Swede has had standout success at club level.
Among the 17 titles he collected, Eriksson helped Sweden's IFK Goteborg, Portugal's Benfica and Italy's Lazio capture domestic league and Cup doubles. He also guided Lazio to success in the European Cup Winners Cup and a Super Cup victory over Champions League winner Manchester United.
The Premier League campaign starts August 11 and Eriksson is likely to make major changes to the squad lineup.
Sources close to Thaksin have said he will give Eriksson some 50 million pounds to spend in the transfer market.
City, which finished 14th in the 20-club Premier League least season, has already sold Joey Barton to Newcastle and Sylvain Distin to Portsmouth without making any major signings.
Eriksson would also have to announce his coaching team and reports suggest he will recruit two more Swedes. Ronald Andersson is currently assistant manager of the Swedish national team and Tord Grip was part of the England coaching setup with Eriksson.
The news from the stock exchange means that Thaksin will become the eighth foreign owner of a Premier League club.
Other foreign owners in the Premier league are Russia's Roman Abramovich of Chelsea and Alexandre Gaydamak of Portsmouth; American businessmen Malcolm Glazer of Manchester United, George Gillett Jr. and Tom Hicks of Liverpool and
Randy Lerner of Aston Villa; Iceland's Eggert Magnusson of West Ham; and Egypt's Mohamed al Fayed of Fulham.
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