City cancel Sven press conference May 02 2008
Sven-Goran Eriksson was prevented from discussing his apparently perilous position at Manchester City as the crisis swirling around the club threatened to reach farcical proportions.
With rumours already rife of approaches to the likes of Luiz Felipe Scolari and Jose Mourinho, City officials cancelled Eriksson's routine Friday press conference citing "exceptional circumstances".
But the Blues' silence has not stopped reports of wantaway stars, potential boycotts and fan fury in support of Eriksson, who - despite heading for the exit - is bizarrely still expected to lead the Lancashire outfit on their tour of the Far East later this month.
Former City goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel on Friday described that tour as an "interruption" and revealed he had spoken to his son Kasper, who is currently on loan at Coventry.
"He is not complaining but there's a lot of other players complaining about it and I fully understand it," Schmeichel senior told BBC Sport.
"I understand if you go on a pre-season tour it's partly promotional and partly training. But when you have been through a very, very tough season the players are worn out and really tired."
Amid the chaos Eriksson, who arrived at the club's Carrington training ground at shortly after 9am, has to prepare his side for the final two away games of their promising Premier League season.
For the Swede it is a far from ideal ending to an encouraging first campaign which has been mired in off-field issues like new owner Thaksin Shinawatra's fight to shrug off accusations of human rights abuses in his homeland.
The Blues' alarming penchant for shooting themselves in the foot has dumbfounded many fans who are backing a campaign by the local Manchester Evening News to convince the club to keep Eriksson in charge.
Behind a full back-page banner urging fans to mobilise and 'Save Our Sven', officials from City's two biggest supporters' groups, the Centenary Supporters' Association and the Official Supporters' Club, came together to back the boss.
CSA chairman Alex Cannon told the MEN: "Sven is the best manager we have had for many years and is the man the supporters trust and feel is the best man for the job. He cannot be replaced."