07 Jan Former England manager makes contact with A-League club

Newcastle Jets CEO Lawrie McKenna has revealed former English manager Sven-Goran Eriksson approached the club following the sacking of Ernie Merrick on Monday.

The Jets opted to part ways with Merrick – who has coached the club since 2017 – after the club’s 4-0 hammering against Melbourne Victory on Sunday.

Newcastle has struggled in first half of the season, languishing at the foot of the A-League table with just two wins.

McKenna said the club would look to appoint a permanent coach within the next two weeks and confirmed Eriksson’s name was in the mix.

"We want to bring in someone where people will go, 'he's got a CV, he's been a good coach, been a good player'…age doesn't matter, it's more on the person," he said at a press conference on Tuesday.

"After the third goal on Sunday night we had six CVs actually come through during the game which I think's quite rude but some agents were sending through CVs.

"Some of the names…I got one of the ex-English manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson's CV sent through yesterday.

"We'll be looking all over. But we need someone who's going to come in and offer something, has got a bit of a track record and can stamp something here and be here for the right reasons."

Eriksson has predominately coached in Asia since 2013, most recently leading the Philippines at the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

The 72-year-old coached England between 2001 and 2006, taking the Three Lions to two consecutive World Cup’s.