Since then the Swede has been linked with a number of jobs. Still suggested he may return to management early in 2007, but not in Britain.

Still dismissed reports suggesting he could return to English football with the Hammers after he had lunch in Tel Aviv with Israeli hotels billionaire Eli Papouchado, who is reported to be the main source of funding for the consortium headed by Iranian-born Kia Joorabchian.

Still told talkSPORT: “I would say that he is very close to being back in football.

“There are a couple of possibilities that I think will crystallise at the beginning of the year but it is highly unlikely that it will be in the UK.

“I want to get the whole Tel Aviv thing out of the way. He’s known Papouchado for years. He’s met him many times in London, as the guy is a football nut.

“It was a personal invitation for Sven to go down there. West Ham were never mentioned at any time in the three days he was down there.”

Still admitted that Eriksson had taken the end of his reign as England manager very badly, adding: “That’s the thing that has upset him most, the absolutely over-the-top and unacceptable criticism.

“He was gutted after the World Cup and, as he had said publicly before, the England manager knows that unless you at least reach the semi-finals, you have failed.

“He admits that, in those terms, those criteria, he feels himself he has failed.”

Still added that Eriksson believed England would have reached the semi-finals if Wayne Rooney had not been sent off against Portugal for stamping on Ricardo Carvalho, and would probably have gone on to win the World Cup.