Eriksson's fairy-tale start thrills enchanted Meadow

Fans of Notts County, the oldest league club in the world, happily suspended their disbelief for the former England manager's first game in charge. David McVay reports

His arrival at Meadow Lane was greeted with a mixture of disbelief and the collective bemusement of a thousand stunned mullets.

A leader of England had now descended to the basement of the Football League and the question everyone asked was "Why?" Of course, when the legendary centre-forward Tommy Lawton left Chelsea to sign for Notts County in November 1947, he replied that he was fulfilling a promise to an old friend, although the promise of a job working for the Stirling Seimig typewriter firm owned by one of the County directors clearly was an added incentive.

Security in his rapidly approaching dotage is the last thing Sven Goran Eriksson frets about, so when the Nottingham Forest fans serenaded him to his seat in the directors' box with "You're only here for the money", they were as wide of the mark as their Championship forwards proved to be later on Saturday afternoon.

Lawton eventually fell on hard times – a fate unlikely to visit Eriksson, although there are similarities between their Meadow Lane arrivals.

Over 12,000 fans, albeit awash with the red and white of the visitors from the south bank of the Trent, welcomed the ethereal director of football as County prevailed 2-1 after goals from recent acquisitions Luke Rodgers and Lee Hughes were sufficient despite a late effort from Lewis McGugan.

That crowd was treble that for normal League Two home matches, just about the same increase Lawton inspired with his first home game. Lawton, too, came with baggage, mostly matrimonial, reflecting later, "I should have stayed at Chelsea and transferred the wife".

Eriksson's off-the-field shenanigans, like his tenure of England, Manchester City and, most recently, Mexico (where the title of worst manager in that nation's history may be bestowed upon him) are perhaps best forgotten. Certainly, in his pledge to shift to the Nottingham area, his satellite navigation system should delete from its memory banks the city's Hooters Bar, whose neon sign has flashed a personal message of greetings to tempt the Swede through its doors.

Yet it would be churlish not to appreciate his impact on a club that flirts with relegation and oblivion as an occupational hazard, and not just as a publicity gimmick that came at a reported salary of £2m per annum, plus that of his assistant Tord Grip, when they were appointed last week.

Munto Finance, which has taken control of County, has a remit to lift the club to Premier League status backed by its Middle East investors. Eight players bought by manager Ian McParland and a new club badge have ensued since the previous shambolic regime of the Supporters' Trust relinquished their shares. New shirt sponsors are expected soon while the Green and Whites rugby union club, who shared the premises, have been turfed out.

Mercifully, in this brave new world, a sense of the past still holds sway in the world's oldest league club. The executive chairman Peter Trembling, a local man, preserved that sense of history by inviting Les Bradd, the club's record goalscorer, as a first guest of honour.

An apposite choice. "He [Trembling] recalled me scoring the goal that beat Forest in the last minute at the City Ground," said Bradd, echoing the thoughts of many in suggesting that the current owners are moving in the right direction.

That winner in 1975 secured a famous Second Division win over Brian Clough's Forest for County, then the powerhouse club on Trentside, managed by idiosyncratic Scot Jimmy Sirrel.

Sirrel brought McParland to the club as a player but just how his compatriot feels about earning a fraction of the wages of his Swedish mentor is uncertain and no less clear after McParland refused to be drawn on the subject.

Outside the main reception, Eriksson was obliging as he edged his way to his limousine through a cluster of fans eager for autographs or mobile phone photos standing alongside the former England head coach; reminiscent of those happy snaps captured in Florida, of men in mouse suits posing with beaming offspring in DisneyWorld.

But Meadow Lane is content to remain Mickey Mouse territory, the land where fairy tales can come true after all.