‘I try not to think about dying’: Sven-Göran Eriksson on his terminal illness, scandal, and why he feels sorry for the next England manager
The England men’s team’s first foreign manager was blamed for their failure and had his private life splashed across the tabloids. Now, with months to live, he’s got some scores to settle
Sven-Göran Eriksson is saying his farewells to the world. The former England men’s football manager has pancreatic cancer, and is approaching the end of his life. In January, he announced he had at most a year to live. He is keen to talk. But he wants to do it in Sven style – calm, measured, drama-free. He tells me he wants to set the record straight. “I had a lot to do with the press in a lot of countries, but especially in England. So why not tell my truth? What I think is the truth.”
Eriksson was England’s first foreign manager. He seemed to belong more to the contemplative world of an Ingmar Bergman film than the cut and thrust of football – professorial, urbane, with a distinctive high forehead, spectacles and a kindly face. He wore immaculately pressed suits on the touchline and rarely showed emotion. While other managers threw tantrums, kicked water bottles or applauded referees ironically, Eriksson sat in silence and watched. He could just as easily have been meditating as managing a football team.
