Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson By Graham Taylor England manager 1990-93

If you awarded three points for a win for every competitive game under Sven-Goran Eriksson you would find that he is our most successful England manager.

He has a better competitive record than any other England coach, including Sir Alf Ramsey.

ERIKSSON FACTFILE Born: 05/02/48 England record: Played 63, Won 38, Drawn 15, Lost 10 In competitive games: Played 33, Won 23, Drawn 7, Lost 3 Former clubs: Degerfors, IFK Gothenburg, Benfica, Roma, Fiorentina, Benfica, Sampdoria, Lazio

When he came into the job he started with a clean sheet of paper - there were none of the jealousies, personality clashes or fall-outs you get with an English manager and I think that helped him.

He rescued an ailing World Cup qualifying campaign and who will forget the 5-1 win in Germany?

At the 2002 World Cup he got us to the quarter-finals and lost to the eventual winners in Brazil.

People criticised him for the way England went out but it was his first tournament as an international manager and we might not have even been there if it wasn't for him.

In Euro 2004 we also got to the quarter-finals and went out to the host country on penalties after losing Wayne Rooney to injury.

In qualifying for this World Cup we won eight, drew one and lost one out of 10 games and we heard more about the game we lost than any of the others.

So people will ask "why we are getting rid of him?".

He is leaving because he hasn't been able to understand that when you become England manager, rightly or wrongly, you sign away part of your private life

I'm afraid it goes with the job - it's one of the prices you pay and he doesn't seem to have accepted that.

Some of the criticisms of him are that he needs to be more demonstrative and he doesn't have a Plan B, but it takes a lot of time to adapt to international management.

You have to have luck and Sven, as well as showing he is a good manager, has been a lucky manager

Overall he has done well. There are certain aspects he can do better but there is no doubt he is learning.

The only criticism I would have of his management is that on the couple of occasions he's had to make changes to alter a game in England's favour he either hasn't done it or what he's done hasn't worked.

His substitutions are often just a fresh pair of legs - structurally and tactically he doesn't alter the shape too much.

This is his second World Cup and his third tournament and he should have that experience to know whether his team needs radically changing during games and whether he can do it.

But that will be his big test: when we are behind can he make the right changes?

We have an excellent group of players and in that respect he's been a lucky manager.

You have to have luck and Sven, as well as showing he is a good manager, has been a lucky manager.

There is no doubt he has the players but now he needs that bit of good fortune in Germany if England are to go all the way.