Eriksson expects to learn fate

The future of Manchester City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson is likely to become much clearer today.

City suffered an embarrassing 8-1 defeat at Middlesbrough yesterday to bring the curtain down on the Swede's first season in English club football.

However, it could be his last at Eastlands as his job was under threat even before the capitulation at the Riverside.

Eriksson left his post-match press conference last night admitting he expected a phone call from the club's owner Thaksin Shinawatra - or at least one of his advisers - to update him on news about his future.

But it does not look good for the ex-England coach, with former Thai prime minister Thaksin having already expressed his disappointment with the final outcome of Eriksson's 10 months in charge.

That is despite the Swede guiding the club to ninth in the Premier League - their best finish since Kevin Keegan led them to eighth in 2004-05 - and a possible place in the Uefa Cup awaiting via the Fair Play League.

"To live in the unsecure is never good for anyone but I hope to not be living in the unsecure very soon, within hours," Eriksson said last night. "I expect to speak to people - or they speak to me - from the owners' side but I have had no answer (about the future) yet."

Asked when he expected to speak to Thaksin, Eriksson said:

"Now, as soon as I have finished here I hope."

Of the effect the speculation about his job had on the players and the performance, he added: "You can never measure that."