For All Whites coach Ricki Herbert, the past week has been akin to being a VIP at the Oscars.
It's been a veritable who's who as he went into meet-and-greet mode with footballing notables like Sir Bobby Robson, Graeme Souness, Trevor Brooking and Ray Clemence. The real jewel in the crown, however, was an ice-cool Swede who just happens to be the most famous football manager in the world.
Herbert was invited to spend three days with the England football team last week to observe them as they prepared for a World Cup qualifying match with Azerbaijan. While he was able to mingle with the England management and watch a team including the likes of David Beckham and Michael Owen train, the highlight for Herbert was spending an hour with Sven-Goran Eriksson over the most English of drinks - a cup of tea.
"He's a very cool, calm and collected guy," Herbert enthused from Newcastle this week. "He's fantastic with his players and fantastic with his management."
Of course, Eriksson has had his moments when he might have got a bit hot under the collar considering he's been involved in more than one scandal surrounding his personal life.
A huge security operation was in place for the England team at their base in Slaley Hall considering some of the world's most expensive players were there, yet one thing that struck Herbert was how welcoming and professional they were.
"It didn't matter what topic you wanted to talk about, Sven-Goran Eriksson was more than happy to discuss it," Herbert explained. "He was very interested in New Zealand and the structures there, what it's like and what the players are like. It wasn't like after five minutes he was looking at his watch and wondering how he could slip away."
Eriksson extended an offer to his New Zealand counterpart to help set up a visit to observe a Premiership manager like England No 2 Steve McClaren at Middlesbrough or Chelsea's Jose Mourinho.
Herbert is also investigating whether the FA might be open to staging a game between the All Whites and a lower-level England side, perhaps an age-group team. "I wouldn't see any problem in that type of approach and I think they would be very supportive," Herbert said. "You don't know if you don't try."
While England cruised to a 2-0 win over Azerbaijan in front of 50,000 spectators at Newcastle's St James' Park, the game was almost secondary for the former All Whites captain. He travelled to the match with FA executive director David Davies before catching up with Brooking, whom he played with at University in the National League and Magpies manager Graeme Souness, who just happened to be in the Scotland side that beat the All Whites 5-2 at the 1982 World Cup finals.
Herbert completed his UK trip with a visit to check on the accommodation and facilities the All Whites will use when they travel to London to play Australia at Fulham's Craven Cottage on June 9.
With formations, systems and training methods running through his head, Herbert can barely wait to get onto the training field.
"The environment was fantastic, the opportunity was fantastic, it was great to see them train and then have an hour with a manager of that stature. Now I want to sink my teeth into the job."
- HERALD ON SUNDAY
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