From the moment he arrived at Manchester City, Sven-Goran Eriksson has carefully steered clear of making predictions on how his new side will perform.
MANCHESTER: From the moment he arrived at Manchester City last month, Sven-Goran Eriksson has carefully steered clear of making predictions on how his new side will perform next season.
And for good reason.
There is a good deal of optimism sweeping around Eastlands and the Swede knows he must limit the growing expectations among the blue half of Manchester.
Despite major question marks being raised about Thaksin Shinawatra's suitability as an owner, concerns about his human rights record during his time as Prime-minister of Thailand are all external and will be a long way down the list of conversation topics in Manchester's pubs.
Thaksin is realistic.
"I would like to see City in the top six. It will not happen overnight."
"Especially this season, it's a bit too late for us to do much but I think this year will be better than last year."
"Within three seasons you will see a big change at City."
So far Thaksin has been good to his word on transfer funds, making plenty of cash available for a raft of new signings as Eriksson begins re-building what had become a stale and sub-standard squad under Stuart Pearce.
Eriksson has not held back, with 8.8 million pounds going on Reggina forward Roland Bianchi and another 4.7 million pounds on Atletico Madrid winger Martin Petrov and Brazilian Geovanni and Swiss youngster Gelson Fernandes.
The speed and efficiency of Eriksson's business is already making him look like a much better appointment than former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri, who was initially Thaksin's first choice for the job before choosing Juventus.
The 59-year-old is unlikely to have another job in football after this one and, regardless of his public defiance, will be keen to rebuild his reputation, which suffered a hammering during his reign as England manager.
What Eriksson's new men all have in common is a lack of Premiership experience which should mean they will take time to settle.
While Eriksson insists he is doing the right thing by bringing down the average age of his first-team, it can also be argued that he is bringing in inexperienced players.
That is not to say his signings are without pedigree.
Bianchi hit 18 goals in Series A with Reggina last season, a division notorious for tight defences.
The pulling power of the Premiership is without question but, while players have flocked to England from all over the world, Italian success stories, other than the irrepressible Gianfranco Zola, are few and far between, particularly expensive strikers.
Petrov boasts more than 60 international appearances for Bulgaria, Geovanni once cost Barcelona 11 million pounds and Eriksson has described Fernandes as the best player in Switzerland.
There will be plenty more to follow before the end of August but this transitional season will not be judged solely on City's final position.
In these upbeat times, it is easy to forget how low City sunk last season. They may have finished 14th but managed just 10 goals in their 19 home league matches and ended four points above the drop zone.
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