1948: Born Sunne, Sweden.

1976: Appointed as coach at Degerfors.

1979: Appointed as coach of IFK Gothenburg.

1979: Wins Swedish Cup.

1981: Wins Swedish title.

1982: Wins Swedish Cup.

1982: Quits Gothenburg to join Benfica.

1983: Wins Portuguese championship and domestic cup, loses in final of the UEFA Cup to Anderlecht.

1984: Wins Portuguese championship

1984: Appointed manager of Roma

1986: Wins Italian Cup

1987: Appointed as manager of Fiorentina

1989: Rejoins Benfica.

1990: Runner-up in European Cup final, losing 1-0 to AC Milan

1991: Wins Portuguese championship

1992: Appointed as manager of Sampdoria

1994: Wins Italian Cup

1997: Appointed as manager of Lazio

1998: Wins Italian Cup and Italian Super Cup

1999: Wins European Cup Winners Cup and UEFA Super Cup

2000: Wins Italian Serie A title and Italian Cup

Since taking over as England manager in September 2000, Sven-Goran Eriksson has had a huge affect on the National team and on English football in general. Along with his assistant and fellow Swede, Tord Grip, he has seen as many Premiership games as possible and has given everybody a fair chance to get into the England side. This has led to the emergence of young players such as Ashley Cole (Arsenal) and Steven Gerrard (Liverpool). As well as the opportunities handed to younger players, the older ones have also retained their places in the squad. These players include Teddy Sheringham (Tottenham Hotspur) and David Seaman (Arsenal).

The bonding of the two generations, giving the mix of experience and knowledge with enthusiasm and energy has led to a great run of form with the team only loosing once since Sven-Goran took over.

This has led to us qualifying for the 2002 World Cup finals in Japan and Korea from a position were qualifying was a very distant possibility.

The emergence of David Beckham as the captain and Michael Owen as a consistent striker for both Liverpool and England has also led to this rise.

The current raise in form was shown best when we played Germany in Munich. We ran out winners 5-1 and got revenge for all the heartache over the years. The goals came from Michael Owen (3), Emile Heskey and Steven Gerrard. All of which play for Liverpool FC in the North West of England.

By Chris Townsend~: chris_townsend1@hotmail.com