The Swede is out of favour with City’s Thai owner Thaksin Shinawatra, who is determined to replace him with Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari.
Despite the protests and pleas from the City supporters to ‘Save Our Sven’, their calls appear to have fallen on deaf ears.
There was an amazing show of support for Eriksson at Liverpool last Sunday and there is likely to be a repeat at the Riverside Stadium.
But again their efforts will be in vain. Even if Shinawatra performs a U-turn, Eriksson’s position is untenable following recent events.
Eriksson is resigned to leaving and has already had talks with Benfica over a return to the Portuguese club he has previously managed.
And after tomorrow’s game it promises to be an eventful close season, with Scolari by no means certain to move to Eastlands despite receiving a lucrative offer of £3.5m per year.
Scolari is committed to Portugal until the end of Euro 2008. His family are settled and he is reported to be reluctant to disrupt the education of his children.
Eriksson’s popularity among the City players has been such that they will want to give him a victorious send-off.
And City are looking to complete back-to-back league doubles, having won their last three matches against the Teesside team.
City, despite Shinawatra’s misgivings, are guaranteed ninth place and could possibly climb to eighth depending on results on Sunday.
What effect Eriksson’s departure remains to be seen, but there is speculation about the futures of a number of players, including Richard Dunne and Micah Richards.
Dunne has yet to sign a new contract and Newcastle have made an inquiry, with Kevin Keegan keen to be reunited with his former City captain.
