BY LEVAUGHN FLYNN, Staff Reporter
Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson (right) kicks a ball before conducting a training session during the World Cup. - REUTERS
FORMER ENGLAND MANAGER Sven-Goran Eriksson has turned down an offer by the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) to coach the national senior team.
Eriksson's agent, Athole Still, on Sunday confirmed on British radio station, BBC Five Live Sport, that he was contacted by a Jamaican representative.
"I had a very pleasant conversation with an agency, a company representing Jamaica, and I can tell you that in the course of that conversation, the person concerned told me that Jamaica, the Government there, had made a substantial amount of money available." Still said.
Still said, along with the Jamaica job, Eriksson rejected an offer to coach a Champions League club but noted, "Eriksson will go to any club, or indeed national team, where he feels there is real ambition and the real possibility of doing something."
Eriksson and his agent heard of the JFF's proposal before they were contacted as the news was first published in the media last Thursday. JFF president Crenston Boxhill told STAR Sports yesterday that there was no sense delaying the offer.
"I wanted to see what the possibilities were since the news was already out so I asked an agent in the U.K. to contact Eriksson's agent," Boxhill said.
TIGHT-LIPPED
The president remains tight-lipped about the coaches he plans to approach and would not confirm if the names published last week are on his shortlist. The only name Boxhill has confirmed is former England player John Barnes.
The other coaches the JFF are reportedly interested in are Brazil's Carlos Alberto Parreira, Germany's Jurgen Klinsmann and Glenn Hoddle, a former England manager.
Portugal's Brazilian coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, is reportedly also on that list but he told Portuguese media on the weekend he wishes to stay in that country on as national coach.
Klinsmann is also pondering his future with Germany and is being encouraged by the German Football Federation and the public to stay. Parreira's future with Brazil is uncertain.
Boxhill said he is now trimming his shortlist and will soon have his final candidates.
"I'm now in the process of eliminating some names and contacting who should be contacted and things should be clearer by the end of the week," he said.
Boxhill maintains that the reported £3 million (approximately Ja$363 million) salary on offer for the successful coach is inaccurate. However, he did say the JFF is having talks with the Government and corporate entities to help cover the coach's salary.
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