Palios shows who is really in charge

Eriksson's loyalty might be of some concern but his record as the England coach is outstanding, having lost just once in 19 competitive matches.

What Palios must try to establish, however, is whether Eriksson is willing to stick around when a return to the day-to-day involvement of club management appears so attractive.

It might not have suited Eriksson for the offer to have been made public yesterday, but this is a serious business and for Palios, the priority has to be the FA.

The interest from Chelsea remains a factor and even if Roman Abramovich decides to stand by Claudio Ranieri, there are bound to be other offers.

In one respect, Palios's decision to offer the FA's highest- paid employee a wage rise when other staff are only just recovering from a round of redundancies seems inappropriate. And why bother asking him to commit himself to the job for two more years when two-anda-half years remain on his current contract and he is struggling to look beyond the next six months?

Palios realises how crucial it is to the FA's finances to have a successful England team. He needs to know sooner rather than later if Eriksson is planning to walk away next summer. That way, at least, Palios would have more time to join forces with Brooking, whose job is to oversee coaching and development of the game at all levels, and search for a successor.

Eriksson could, of course, simply insist he is happy with his current contract. But now that the story is

out - something the FA intended to conduct quietly - the issue is on the agenda.

From the moment Eriksson's plane touches down in Lisbon this weekend for the Euro 2004 draw, the questions will come thick and fast.

They will continue when Eriksson attends the 2006 World Cup draw in Frankfurt the following weekend - a prospect that did not amuse him when he heard that news of the contract offer was in the public domain.

The FA claimed there was no time limit on the talks. That might be just as well given the way Eriksson's relationship with the FA was damaged by the chaos surrounding Rio Ferdinand's failure to attend a drugs test and the decision to drop Alan Smith from the England squad because the Leeds striker had been arrested for throwing a water bottle at fans. Last night's developments hardly eased the tension.

Palios has been astute in appointing Brooking and the decision to offer Eriksson a new contract represents sound management. But one suspects it will require extraordinary powers of persuasion to secure the Swede's services for the World Cup and two years after that.