Sven-Göran Eriksson last night reflected on a remarkable show of support by Manchester City’s fans at Anfield before conceding that he does not expect it to make any difference. The supporters chanted his name throughout their 1-0 defeat by Liverpool, imploring Thaksin Shinawatra, the club’s chairman, to “leave our Sven alone”, but the former England head coach knows that, barring an unlikely reprieve, he will be dismissed after the final game of the season, away to Middlesbrough on Sunday.

Eriksson was diplomatic throughout a five-minute press conference, where he faced the media for the first time since his showdown with Shinawatra at City’s training ground seven days earlier, but when asked whether he thought the fans’ support for him would affect the chairman’s decision, he replied: “I don’t think so. But we have one more week to go before the season is finished and I should appreciate that, until then, we just talk about football.”

The 60-year-old was more willing to defend his record in ensuring the top-half finish that was said to be Shinawatra’s target when he bought the club last summer. “I think we have done a good job,” Eriksson said. “At the start of the season, we didn’t know what would happen with a new team. We started well and we were very happy with the table. Of course, all of us dreamed that we would get into Europe. Now that is finished, but we will be better next season. We have a lot of young players and, if you compare our position now to where the club was a year ago, I think it’s good.

“The reason I accepted Manchester City was the project. It was also because it is a big club and because it was the Premier League, but the main reason was the project. It’s a fantastic idea, to be building for something new. We will see what happens.”

Athole Still, Eriksson’s agent, has suggested that it is a fait accompli – with Shinawatra believed to have approached Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Portugal coach – but the Swede suggested that Still had spoken out of turn. “Agents should work and not talk,” he said. “That would be better. I have not said anything.”

Shinawatra was not at yesterday’s game, which Liverpool won through a goal from Fernando Torres, but was represented in the directors’ box by Sasin Monvoisin and Taweesuk “Jack” Srisumrid, his fellow board members.

Perhaps the most laughable aspect of this sorry saga is that Eriksson may be asked to lead the team on an end-of-season visit to Thailand and Hong Kong, which appears to be largely a publicity stunt for Shinawatra’s benefit, before being sacked on his return. “Yes, I suppose we all go to Thailand,” Eriksson said. “It is a tour programme. But a combination of football and a holiday – that isn’t bad.”