Any resident of Thailand under former President Thaksin Shinawatra's rule will testify that he is not a man of infinite patience and understanding and Manchester City manager Sven Goran Eriksson is reputedly in trouble of finding out the same thing this summer.

Thaksin gave the Swede a warchest of £50m when he took over last summer with the intention of turning City into a Premier League force to be reckoned with. After a promising start, progression seems to have turned to regression with many of the big money signings brought in by Eriksson failing to justify their price tags. Brazilians Elano and Geovanni have both shone in short measures while Rolando Bianchi barely lasted a few months before being turfed out to Lazio on loan.

The big word coming out of City now is that Thaksin has already lined up Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari to take over at Eastlands this summer and will dispose of Eriksson as soon as the season ends. It'll be an ignominious exit from another job on English shores for Sven but with another large contract settlement he'll have millions more reasons to cheer his mood. Another victim of the "short term success at all costs" mantra of modern English top level football.