It was on the road to Formello yesterday morning that Sven-Goran Eriksson finally saw the light. The England manager-elect stopped just up the road from Lazio's training ground north of Rome for petrol. As the pump whizzed, he made up his mind to resign as coach of the Italian champions.
In hindsight, there is an apparent inevitability about Eriksson's resignation. On the day, however, the Swede took everyone by surprise, as not only football commentators but Lazio club officials alike had concluded that, having survived a meeting with club owner Sergio Cragnotti on Monday, Eriksson would stay in place - at least until the next Lazio defeat.
Eriksson's resignation thus ends a troubled two months that started on the day last October he accepted the England job, to begin in July. Since then, every slip by Lazio (and there have been many) has been re-assessed in the light of his coming employment.
British media speculation has been unremitting. Has he taken his eye off the ball? Has he lost the players' respect? Do Lazio now want rid of him? Until last weekend and a 2-1 home loss to Napoli, 98 per cent of this speculation was merely wishful (English) thinking.
Last weekend's defeat, however, was one too many for Cragnotti. On Monday, the Lazio boss tried in vain to persuade Eriksson to resign. Typically, the Swede refused, arguing that he and the side with which he won last season's Italian championship still had some long way to go together.
At the petrol station yesterday morning, something snapped. In an uncharacteristic gesture, Eriksson bowed to the combined pressures of his employer's wishes and recent results. Yesterday, as he sat alongside Cragnotti at a hastily convened news conference in Formello, Eriksson looked dignified but disappointed:
"The results are not what I had hoped they would be. I'm in charge of the team, I'm the one who is responsible. I don't particularly like what I did but I think and hope it is better for the club".
Speaking to The Irish Times afterwards, Eriksson developed his thoughts.
"Look, it is just boring, I mean, boring to wake up every morning after a defeat and find people asking if the fact that I am about to become England manager can explain our loss. Okay, now I have taken that alibi, that excuse away from the players . . ."
Eriksson thus ends a three-and-a-half-year spell at Lazio during which he won not only last season's Scudetto but also the 1999 Cup Winner's Cup and two Italian Cups. Until Eriksson's arrival, Lazio had won nothing of significance for 26 years. His role in converting perennial losers into winners, albeit with the help of generous funding from Cragnotti, clearly convinced the English FA.
His winning role in Lazio history was the main reason Cragnotti simply refused to sack him, and hoped rather that Eriksson would finally leave of his own accord. In other circumstances, Champions League defeats by Arsenal, Anderlecht and Leeds, not to mention Serie A losses to Verona, Parma and Roma, would have been enough to see Eriksson sent packing a long time ago.
Eriksson now heads off to the England job, leaving Lazio in the hands of club vice-president Dino Zoff, the man who coached Italy to within 20 seconds of winning Euro 2000 last summer. Four years ago, in similar circumstances, Zoff stepped down from the Lazio board to replace sacked Czech coach Zdenek Zeman. On that occasion, Zoff did well, taking the club on an unbeaten run to the end of the season which ended with a fourth place finish in Serie A.
On this occasion, he faces an arguably more difficult task. Lazio's problems this season did not start with Eriksson, but rather with a midsummer transfer campaign which saw the club sell vital elements such as Portuguese midfielder Sergio Conceicao and Argentinian midfielder Matias Almeyda, and replace them with expensive Argentinian purchases, strikers Hernan Crespo and Claudio Lopez. While Conceicao and Almeyda have done well at Parma, neither Crespo nor Lopez have contributed much, though injury and loss of form.
Furthermore, Eriksson and Lazio have paid a high price for remaining loyal to Yugoslav defender Sinisa Mihajlovic, whose brilliance with free kicks does not compensate for manifest defensive shortcomings. Zoff, who will sign a contract through to June 2002, acknowledged the difficult task facing him.
"This side has, above all, failed to understand how difficult it is to repeat yourself. What you did last year, doesn't count this year. We simply haven't given as much, tried as hard, as we did last year."
Intriguingly, Zoff did seem to acknowledge that Eriksson's decision to take the England job had affected the club's performances.
"In theory, something like that shouldn't affect anything. But we (footballers) live in a very special world where people create doubts, even if the reality of the situation is entirely different, and this is something that produces problems."
Too many problems for SvenGoran Eriksson, it seems. Lancaster Gate, here he comes.
