Finally, the chirpy Kevin Keegan led a dispiriting campaign in Euro 2000, before another defeat by Germany in a World Cup qualifier last October forced his resignation. England’s well had run dry of both managerial skills and tactical organisation.So it was hardly surprising that the former advertising executive Adam Crozier, by then leading a belated reform of the Football Association’s structure and attitudes, should look to Eriksson for salvation and partnership. Courted by the FA, Eriksson accepted within days, “honoured to be offered such a great job”. A breakfast-time introduction to the English media in November saw Eriksson resist his detractors with great charm, the FA’s spin-doctors even having had the sensitivity to equip him with a British Legion “poppy” to deflect any topical criticism.Although Eriksson was not due to start until June 2001, the FA’s bid effectively destabilised his authority at Lazio.

To the players he became, in Mafia terminology, “a dead man walking” and, after a series of poor results, he resigned in January to take up the England job ahead of schedule. Since then, Eriksson has been furiously busy acquainting himself with the core of England’s international squad, running up air-miles from Middlesbrough to Madrid. He has kept, as is his style, a low profile during this period, submitting himself only to a brief, nervy interview on the BBC last Thursday during the Roma-Liverpool game. But on Friday he will step naked on to the stage when he names his first squad and calls them up for training.But apart from his coaching abilities, what kind of man is England likely to see? Eriksson has just turned 53, and keeps fit by way of skiing, tennis and swimming He speaks at least four languages fluently.

He has accrued considerable wealth on his travels, including homes in Portugal, Italy and Sweden, but is not as yet in the property-price bear-pit of London. He remains, by all accounts, calm and dignified under pressure, perhaps as a result of his passion for Tibetan poetry. He eats at the best places and his sophisticated lifestyle is actively encouraged by his glamorous Italian-American partner, Nancy Dall’Olio, a high-powered international lawyer with whom he began a relationship three years ago, after his marriage to his Swedish wife Ann-Christine had broken down.Dall’Olio declared, during the early stages of their relationship, that she would “defend our private life with my teeth”, and Eriksson recently put down a similar marker with the English press. The latter’s restraint so far will come under pressure as the results roll in. The other cultural gauntlet he has thrown down involves the drinking habits of the England team, something that Eriksson aims to consign to history.David Platt, the only English player to have operated under Eriksson, at Sampdoria in the mid-1990s, pays this tribute to the “Ice Man”: “He’s good at man-management, group management and tactics He is quiet but not aloof and can be subtly inspirational. He is a definite winner.”When Eriksson left Italy, the Lazio fans saluted a “stylish champion”, and reduced him to tears with their warmth.