Sven-Göran Eriksson (1948-2024)

Aug 29, 2024

THE Amazon documentary about the late Sven-Göran Eriksson is stupendous. “I have feelings but I don’t show them,” Sven says. This seems to be the exemplary course to take in life. Sven’s a Stoic and an Epicurean. He’s a combination of Zelig and Chauncey Gardiner. We see a brilliant collage of early 2000s football and it brings back so many memories - the absurdly lascivious Nancy, the luscious men’s mag mainstay Ulrika, that extraordinary 5-1 win against Germany, and Beckham’s heroic goal against Greece followed by his consecrated metatarsal injury. 

As it should be, the tabloid scum come out of this documentary in the worst light: the irksome, smirkful News of the World hack Neil Wallis, apparently under the impression that he is there to provide some sort of corrective “devil’s advocate” hatchet job about Sven, accuses the erstwhile England manager of lacking “self-awareness” and expresses doubt that anyone could ever feel any sympathy for him. Whatever Sven’s faults, I’m sure most of us sympathise more with him than a guttersnipe like Wallis. 

Throughout it all, Sven is phlegmatic, sometimes slightly baffled and unworldly. His speech when he departed as England’s manager was remarkable in its dignity. It was the absolute opposite of egomania: look after the kid Rooney, he says. Rooney needs to be protected, even though his crass foul led to England’s World Cup elimination against Portugal. 

After leaving Sweden, Sven worked in Italy, Portugal, England, Mexico (“that was a mistake”), and Notts County, which somehow led to a meeting with the debauched North Korean patriarch Kim Jong-Il. “I didn’t want to go to North Korea, but the owners wanted money,” says Sven. One longs to hear more.

Sven - swindled by some fraudster - then fiddled his way through various earners in China and Thailand. Perhaps it’s true that he was a bit of a chancer, but one has to admire his wanderlust. And quite beautifully, the kid from the Swedish forests lived his last days in the glorious scenery of his homeland. We can only hope that he was consoled that his ashes would be dispersed there.

“I had a good life,” Sven said. “We are all scared of when it is finished. But life is about death as well. You have to learn to accept it for what it is. Hopefully people will say he is a good man, but everyone will not say that… Don’t be sorry. Smile. Thank you for everything.”