Sven-Göran Eriksson reflects on his terminal cancer diagnosis and holding ‘probably the biggest’ job in football

Eriksson won club titles with IFK Göteborg in Sweden (including the 1981/82 UEFA Cup, now known as the Europa League), Lazio in Italy, and Benfica in Portugal as part of his globe-trotting managerial career, but it’s his almost six years spent with England for which he is best remembered by many.

Eriksson became the Three Lions’ manager, the team’s first overseas appointment, after four successful years with Lazio, guiding the club to only its second – and still its most recent – Serie A title in 2000. His next job, however, would be the toughest of his career.

He took England’s “Golden Generation” – the likes of David Beckham, Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard – to three major tournaments between 2001 and 2006, though never progressed beyond the quarterfinal stage.

“England is something special,” says Eriksson. “I don’t know if football was born in England, but more or less … and the Premier League is the best league in the world today. To be the England coach, it’s a big, big job … probably the biggest in the world.”

After the prime minster, so the saying goes, the manager of the national team is the most important person in England. And with great power comes great scrutiny – not least at the hands of the tabloid press.

Eriksson’s personal life was often the topic of front-page interest on national newspapers in England, notably over a number of alleged affairs.

The country’s tabloid press, Eriksson says, is not “a mirror of the English people,” and the way his personal life became embroiled in national news was a facet of the job to which he unhappily had to resign himself.

“When you talk about paparazzi and that kind of press, you can’t do anything about it,” he adds. “You have to accept it or go back home to Sweden.

“I said to myself: ‘No, Sven. Don’t give up just because of this. Don’t worry about it and don’t read it and don’t talk about it.’ It’s up to the press if they want to write it or not. And at the end, I couldn’t care less.”