Sven-Goran Eriksson will fulfil a lifelong dream when he walks out at Anfield on Saturday as part of Liverpool’s coaching team of the Legends match against Ajax.
The Swedish manager, who revealed earlier in the year that he has a terminal pancreatic cancer diagnosis, was a boyhood Liverpool supporter.
Eriksson joined Liverpool legend John Barnes at a pre-match press conference on Friday ahead of the charity match, which raises funds for the LFC Foundation – and will see a new record crowd at Anfield, with almost 60,000 tickets sold in a complete sell out.
“I wrote to the club and asked if I come to see a training session (in 1979, during his early management days). So I came to the games and saw some training and I was honoured to go into the Boot Room,” revealed the 76-year-old former England boss.
“That was great, it was fantastic.”
Eriksson went on to enjoy a glittering managerial career that spanned five decades, managing historic clubs such as Roma, Benfica, Lazio, Gothenburg, Sampdoria, plus English clubs Leicester City and Manchester City.
He has previously spoken of his dream to manage the club, who he played against twice as a player for Benfica.
“It’s like a dream,” he said of the opportunity to be ‘Liverpool manager’ at Anfield on Saturday, when he’ll be managing players including Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres.
Erikkson also revealed he previously came “close” to managing Liverpool during the noughties.
“It was close once, there was some discussions once. It never happened, but now it happens. When they asked I thought it was a joke!
“So I said of course and it’s for charity, which makes it even more lovely.”
Speaking about his visit to Liverpool in 1979, Eriksson explained: “I think that at that time the philosophy lived in Liverpool and all the training sessions; they were playing one touch, two touches, and you never see them do any other things.
“They would just play, some warm up, just play – and the quality of the play was incredible.
“At that time, the coaches told them make it just simple, don’t try to dribble too much. so I learned a lot of course.”
Erikkson’s love of Liverpool came from his father and he revealed that the Legends match is even being shown live on TV in Sweden: “I don’t know (why his father supported Liverpool). He always is a Liverpool fan and still is.
“This game is going to be sent in television channel in Sweden live on a big channel, not the biggest but the second biggest.”
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