I am totally mystified by the continued labelling of Sven-Goran Eriksson as a “bungling under-achiever” within certain elements of the British press and public opinion.

Having ignored the hyperbole and taken a dispassionate look through the FA and FIFA records for the past five decades, it appears that the “Sven-Becks” years were something of a Golden Period for English football. (I can already hear some outraged laughter but stay with me on this).

England were the laughing stock of world soccer during the Euro 2000 qualifiers - and the tournament itself - and were languishing in the wilderness in FIFA’s rankings when Sven took up the challenge of turning things around.

We can all remember the hero worship - immortalised by Bell & Spurling in the song “Sven, Sven Sven…” - when amazingly England beat Germany 5-1 on German soil. But it wasn’t all that surprising when you look at the statistics overall and an all-time record of consistent performance seems to be apparent.

England were beaten in only four competitive games (Northern Ireland in a qualifier, and three quarter-finals) during the five-and-a-half years under Sven. And they achieved top place in every international tournament qualifying group, leaving them with a FIFA ranking of number five.

Not bad for a “bungling underachiever”! Now I know all true England fans were disappointed at not winning a trophy (or two) once the Swede had started setting a pattern of consistently, winning nearly every competitive game played.

I also know that it is difficult to make comparisons with Sir Alf Ramsey’s World Cup-winning team of 1966, but what most people forget is that England had the most exceptional good luck that year as we actually failed to qualify for the finals and only “sneaked in” because we were the host nation. Sir Alf was drummed out of office after England failed to qualify for the finals in 1974.

I share a British attitude towards Sven’s apparent “continental” attitude to personal relationships and I am puzzled by some of his squad selection. I also think he was very unwise to make some of the comments reported during secret filming. But most of his players - as well as the rest of the world’s press and many senior football pundits - seem to hold him in very high esteem.

And if you check out the true reports of his “scandalous and treacherous” comments, it was a pretty unremarkable assessment of the qualities of certain players (that they didn’t seem to find offensive) and the apparent investigation of potential future employment as his FA contract was drawing to an end, a contract that, in fact, was duly extended.

Other than bringing home a trophy, Sven’s five-year reign appears to have been a record-breaking success story. So why wasn’t (isn’t) he appreciated for the exceptional achievements and results he coached from a pretty ordinary bunch of players?

Was Sven a success or a waste of time? Why not give us your opinion?