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Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson was hired as director of football at Notts County, which finished 87th of England’s 92 soccer clubs last season.

Eriksson, who was fired as Mexico coach in April, was appointed with “immediate effect” to oversee “all aspects of developing Notts County FC on the pitch,” the League Two club said today in an e-mailed statement.

“I started my football management career at a small, lower-division Swedish club and we managed to get them into the top flight,” Eriksson, 61, said in the statement. “I can think of no better challenge than to attempt to do that again.”

Notts County, the world’s oldest professional soccer club having been formed in 1862, was last week acquired by a group of Middle East-based investors who are targeting a spot in England’s second-tier Championship within five years.

Eriksson’s responsibilities will include overseeing player trades, training facilities and the club’s youth academy. Tord Grip, his longtime assistant, will assume the role of general adviser, Notts County said.

Contract details weren’t disclosed, though the club said Eriksson’s salary “will largely be determined by the success of Notts County on the pitch.” He will also take a shareholding.

“Sven and his team join us with an unrivalled football pedigree,” Notts County Chairman Peter Trembling said. “Their knowledge of the game and contacts throughout the football world will significantly enhance Notts County’s prospects.”

Coaching Record

Before becoming England’s first overseas manager in 2001, Eriksson coached clubs in his native Sweden, Portugal and Italy, winning trophies in all three countries. He spent five years in charge of England, guiding the national team to the 2002 and 2006 World Cup quarterfinals and the last eight at the 2004 European Championships.

Eriksson joined Manchester City in July 2007, his first coaching job since leaving the England post a year earlier, and led the team to its highest Premier League finish in three years before leaving by “mutual consent” after one season.

He lasted less than a year in the Mexico job after taking over from national icon Hugo Sanchez and had been linked with a return to the Premier League with Portsmouth.

Notts County, one of the 12 founding members of England’s Football League in 1888, most recently played in the top flight in 1992. The Magpies have won one major trophy, the F.A. Cup in 1894.

“I am particularly attracted to this role and the unique opportunity to help build a club over the longer term,” Eriksson said.

(Source: Bloomberg)