English FA chief executive Adam Crozier has insisted Sven-Goran Eriksson was not taking over as England coach this week as a "failure" as he appealed for the fans to unite behind him.

At an added cost of about £1 million to the FA in wages, but no compensation payable to Lazio, Eriksson is set to take over as England coach in time to watch his first Premiership game on Saturday.

And he will be in charge of England's friendly against Spain next month and May's World Cup qualifiers against Finland and Albania. Crozier greeted the news with "relief and excitement" as England had been "treading water for the past couple of months" amid uncertainty over Eriksson's start date.

Crozier claimed that although England had struggled for many years, they now had "one of the best management teams in the world" and he expected the players to contribute to an upturn in the national side's fortunes.

Indeed, pulling together was a theme developed by Crozier as he attempted to ensure Eriksson did not walk into a wall of opposition from those either opposed to an overseas coach or those who doubted his credentials.

The first signs of that came when bookmakers issued odds of 7 to 1 that the 52year-old Swede would be gone by the turn of the year.

But Crozier declared: "We do not look at him as a failure at all. His managerial record over a long period of time is second to none and anyone looking at just the past nine weeks is pretty daft."

"The important thing for everyone is to unite behind them. There isn't anyone in England who doesn't want the England side to do well and I think everyone will rally behind that," he insisted.