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Fan's eye view: 'Let's see what he makes of Saltergate's wooden benches'

Jacob Daniel,Editor
Thursday 23 July 2009 00:00 BST
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Eriksson is the new Director of Football at Notts County
Eriksson is the new Director of Football at Notts County (GETTY IMAGES)

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As a third generation County fan who's only ever seen his club struggle along at the bottom of the Football League, it came as a shock to find Sven Goran Eriksson set for a position at our club. Sven smiling and signing autographs as a few hundred delirious fans chanted anti-Forest songs in front of him is one of the most surreal yet delightful images I've seen. The brilliance of it won't be fully confirmed until our early-season derby at Chesterfield, seeing what Sven makes of the wooden benches that pass as a directors' box in north Derbyshire.

For those who remember us breaking the British transfer record to bring in Tommy Lawton in 1947, today comes with a sense of déjà vu they never thought they'd experience.

Eriksson's £40,000-a-week salary may seem slightly ridiculous, but with the members of Munto Finance being reportedly worth several billions, no one is batting an eyelid. That we can employ someone on £2m a year just two months after finishing 87th in the Football League is insane yet brilliant. I now have genuine hope that I might see us face Nottingham Forest in a competitive fixture for the first time.

So far Ian McParland is going for tried and tested lower league players, but with Sven watching over him it's probably unlikely that Lee Hughes is going to be the pinnacle of Notts County's summer spending. The first test of Sven's commitment will be when a bigger team inevitably comes calling for his services. For fans of Notts County, however, it's a problem that none of us ever dreamt of having.

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