John Bull turned up outside the English FA's new headquarters in Soho Square yesterday to protest about the appointment of a foreigner as England coach.

A pity Mr Bull could not hear the man out. He might have learned something.

The niceties of national distinctions clearly do not mean much to Sven-Goran Eriksson, who today begins the task of taking England to the World Cup next year by watching West Ham United.

"Maybe today I feel more European than Swedish," said Eriksson when the xenophobes' point of view was put to him. "After all I've been away from Sweden since 1982. In any case football is the same all over the world. If the results are bad it doesn't matter if you are English, Swedish or Chinese - you will always be criticised. But if England's results are good I don't think anyone will be worrying about nationalities."

So confident is the FA that England have the right man to revive the national team that Eriksson is on a five-year contract worth £3.5 million sterling a year with a two-year option.

Yesterday the 52-year-old Eriksson gave his first press conference as England coach six months earlier than planned. Lazio's poor results, which led to his resigning as the Rome club's coach on Monday, saw to that.

A disarming personality, Eriksson is said to have few enemies in the game and after listening to him for the better part of an hour it is easy to see why. It is not that he avoids confrontation, he simply believes in preserving his energies for where they are most needed, and that is on the football field. "I don't like polemic," he explained. "If people make personal criticisms of me I try not to respond. I don't see any reason for it."

When asked what he thought of anyone who considered England had appointed a losing coach, he proved equally passive. "There is no use talking about what I have done or not done," he replied, "because now it is all about what I do in the future."

In terms of what he actually plans to do with the England squad Eriksson was less revealing. Which is hardly surprising since he has yet to watch English players live in any capacity other than an opposing coach or neutral observer.

Nevertheless he was prepared to reel off a list of those he considered to have either world class or world-class potential: Steven Gerrard, Emile Heskey and Michael Owen of Liverpool, David Beckham and Paul Scholes of Manchester United, Rio Ferdinand and Paul Robinson of Leeds and West Ham's Joe Cole.

Eriksson's requirements in an international footballer were equally unsurprising: "He must have speed, strength, good technique, a good understanding of the play and good vision. Very few players in the world have all these qualities, and experience is important too."

Eriksson looked slightly perplexed when asked how he expected his England players to behave. Why, behaving like people representing their country: eating the right food, perhaps with a glass of wine, and playing cards but only for small amounts. "If you play for big money it can become a problem."

Eriksson himself comes over as the sort of person who would enjoy a friendly game of contract bridge.