| Eriksson confirmed as new Leicester manager • Former England coach targets promotion to Premier League• Eriksson replaces Paulo Sousa at Championship clubSven-Goran Eriksson has been confirmed as the new manager of Leicester City and immediately dismissed suggestions that the project could turn out to be similar to his last foray in English football with Notts County.Eriksson spent seven months with County from July 2009 to February 2010 but he resigned from his position as director of football when the Middle Eastern consortium Munto's ambitious five-year plan collapsed financially, leaving embarrassment for all involved.Leicester were recently taken over by a Thai consortium, a deal which the chairman, Milan Mandaric, hopes to be ratified by the Football League without any problems next week, and Eriksson says he is not worried by a potential case of déjà vu, having carried out a much sterner evaluation of the situation this time around."I'm not frightened, this is a real project," he said. "As you know Notts County, after six months, it was not real. That was a pity. This is real, though. I learned there that I want to be on the pitch, not sitting in meetings all day. I worked with Thai people of course (at Manchester City). I've only worked with them [here] for a few days but so far I like them very much."The former England coach was in attendance at the club's 3-1 win over Scunthorpe on Saturday and spoke to the media yesterday, saying that he hopes to guide Leicester to the Premier League as soon as next season."The Premier League will hopefully happen this year; if it doesn't, then the year after," he said. "We have to work with the players towards that. The club wants to be in the Premier League and I do as well. That is the clear target," said the 62-year-old, who has signed a two-year deal at the Walkers Stadium. "I think the ambition of the club is fantastic. If they did not have ambition, then I would not be interested."Eriksson replaced Paulo Sousa, who was sacked on Friday after less than three months in charge of Leicester, which saw them win only one out of nine league games and fall to the bottom of the Championship.Milan Mandaric, the Leicester chairman, has been criticised by the League Managers Association for getting rid of Sousa so early into his tenure. Defending his decision yesterday, Mandaric said: "Sometimes in the future we can look back and say this was truly the right thing to do. I can say one thing, he [Eriksson] is going to be special to this club on the field and as ambassador off the field. This confirms the ambitions of the owners."Eriksson is Leicester's 15th manager since 2004 and the Swede's 12th managerial role of his career. His most recent job saw him lead the Ivory Coast at the World Cup in South Africa.Sven-Göran ErikssonLeicester Cityguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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