Swedish Continuity Shames England:



Lars Lagerback has extended his contract to coach Sweden until 2008, as the Swedish FA continues its smooth, sensible approach to hiring managers. Lagerback was Assistant Manager to Tommy Soderberg at the 1998 World Cup, then joint manager (again with Soderberg) at Euro 2000, the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004. In 2004 Lagerback took sole charge of the team and mounted a successful World Cup 2006 qualification campaign.

Such successful tranquility contrasts favourably with England's Human Resources record over the same period:

(deep breath) Terry Venables was not offered a new contract despite reaching the semi-finals of Euro '96, then Glenn Hoddle was P45'd for his religous beliefs (and losing to Sweden) in 1999. Howard Wilkinson filled the void while the FA negotiated with the owner of Harrod's over Kevin Keegan's contract. Keegan took the job part-time in early 1999, then full-time in mid 1999, then had a meltdown at Wembley in late 2000. Peter Taylor filled the void while the FA considered their options/panicked again, eventually settling on Lagerbacks's compatriot Sven-Goran Eriksson in late 2000 even though he was busy coaching Lazio until mid 2001. Sven then negotiated a payrise so astronomical in early 2004 that the FA can't afford to sack him, even if he turned their headquarters into a house of ill repute, which he did in mid 2004.

45eachway bets the Swedish tabloid writers envy their English counterparts though.

Sources:
Sporting Life World Cup 2006 (for the story)
EnglandFootballOnline (for England manager stats)
BBC (for Sven timeline)