By Frank Malley, PA Sport
Last updated February 21 2006
In Germany next summer, Sven-Goran Eriksson hopes to become only the second England manager in history to win the World Cup.
Forty years after the legendary Sir Alf Ramsey steered England to glory on home soil, Eriksson travels to his second World Cup as he continues the long line of Ramsey successors looking to emulate the great man's achievements.
Don Revie (1974-77)
Fond of bonding activities with the players and was famed for his bingo sessions before big internationals. Once described as being poacher turned gamekeeper after presiding over Leeds, regarded as the dirtiest team in English football in those days, and then complaining that the skills of his England side did not have chance to develop because of the fierce physical contact in the English game.
A great blackboard tactician, working out ways to counter the strengths of the opposition, but was not blessed with the intuitive vision of Ramsey, nor with world class players, who arrived and departed almost as quickly in his three-year reign with only the most dedicated surviving.
A controversial figure in his time, his brand of management was criticised for its abrasive play, most notably by Brian Clough. But England failed to qualify for the 1976 European Championships and after a poor start to the 1978 World Cup qualification campaign, and worn down by merciless criticism from the media, he quit in 1977 to become coach of the United Arab Emirates.
The Football Association suspended Revie on a charge of bringing the game into disrepute, which Revie successfully overturned in court.
Ron Greenwood (1977-82)
Ordered TV cameras out of the team HQ before a match in 1981. Hated the way the job was personalised by the press and his press conferences were often prickly affairs.
Steeped in the West Ham school of attractive attacking football but his experiment to base his England tactics around the methods and personnel of England's dominant club force of Liverpool was ill-fated. Greenwood believed "Football is a simple game, the difficulty is making it look simple."
Largely blameless for England's failure to reach the 1978 World Cup after inheriting the mess left by Don Revie, Greenwood took the side to the 1980 European Championships where they failed to progress from the group stage.
Unable to get the best out of his players but remains the only England manager, apart from Ramsey, whose team finished a World Cup final tournament unbeaten. However, blighted by injuries to key men Trevor Brooking and Kevin Keegan, they did not advance to the semi-finals in 1982 and he resigned.
