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Sven-Goran Eriksson’s final message: ‘Life is always, always to be celebrated’

Sven wrote a final Telegraph column reflecting on his life and his family have given permission for it to be published before his funeral

Life is to be celebrated. I always had that attitude. How do I best illustrate that? Well, you may have heard the story one of my old players, Didi Hamann, tells about me when I was sacked by Manchester City in 2008.
It was on a post-season tour in Thailand, and Didi was sitting by the swimming pool. Didi did not know that Tord Grip, my assistant, and I, had just been sacked. Both Tord and I felt sad about this because we had a good season. So we did what everyone should do in that situation: we bought some bottles of champagne.
I saw Didi by the pool and took him over a glass. When he tells the story, he says he was puzzled. He said to me, ‘What are we celebrating, boss?’
My reply was the same then as it is now, writing these last words of mine to be published who knows when. “We are celebrating life, Kaiser,” I said. “Life.”
We sat by the swimming pool on our sun loungers and had a drink. Celebrate life. That has always been my mindset – whatever is thrown at you.
Since I was given the news that I had terminal cancer, it has been difficult. I had days when I felt very bad, and other days when I felt OK.
Through it all though, I always tried to live every day with a smile on my face. You have to stay positive.
Writing a piece about death of course makes you reflective. Everything went too quickly! Where did life go?
But one thought always comes to the front of my mind: It has been a dream. One of the best jobs you can have in the world is to be a football manager. I can tell you this: I have never woken up in the morning, and felt, ‘Oh no, I have to go to work again’.
Every day was a pleasure. Of course, you don’t win every game and sometimes your team plays badly. You can be criticised heavily, of course – but it really doesn’t matter. It’s a great thing to be on the training pitch, talking to players and trying to make them better. When 60,000 people are supporting you, it gives you an enormous kick.
It only seems like yesterday when I took my first job in 1977 with Degerfors in Sweden. I had been a very average footballer so Tord gave me some advice. He told me I should stop playing football. I listened to him. It was the right decision. As a footballer I trained very hard but I was never any good.
I enjoyed management far more than I did being a player. I was so very lucky to manage different teams at a very high level. At Gothenburg, my second job, I won the Uefa Cup. In Italy, with Lazio, I won the Serie A title and the Uefa European Cup Winners’ Cup. With Benfica in Portugal we won the league three times and only lost 1-0 in the 1990 European Cup final to the great AC Milan of Arrigo Sacchi. There were other great clubs and other finals. That’s not a bad run.
Being appointed as the England manager was a huge honour, perhaps the highlight of my career. When I was asked if I wanted the job, I didn’t believe it.  It was one of the happiest days of my life. It is a job which is impossible to refuse. There were many highs. There was the 5-1 win over Germany in Munich in 2001. There were two World Cups and one European Championship.
Of course, there were also some lows. I was told by the Football Association I would have to leave after the 2006 World Cup finals, and my teams never made it past a quarter-final.
I had so many brilliant players that I was fortunate to work with. Wayne Rooney was a fireball and one of the best I have ever seen. I will never forget the game towards the end of the 2005-06 Premier League season when Rooney broke his metatarsal playing for Manchester United at Stamford Bridge, shortly before the World Cup. I was in the stands praying with my hands together. When I saw Rooney get injured, I thought “S—”. And then I thought, “Bloody hell’.
I also had to learn a completely different way to manage players with England. I was very surprised when we were in Japan for the 2002 World Cup and David Beckham came to me on the second day and asked if the players could go out shopping. I never heard Italian players ask this.
Yes, of course, I said, and we had to organise it. It became a big problem because you don’t let the players go out by themselves, especially with Beckham. Italian and Portuguese players can sit for hours talking and drinking coffee. They don’t have any problems at all. England players had to kill their free time. They have to do something.
Every tournament we had they had a games room, as big as my house. Well, maybe not as big. A completely different culture. I would have loved to be more successful, but it was still a magical time.
Even when I lived in England and was the coach, I never heard a bad word spoken to me from anyone. Everyone was educated and professional, although there were negative stories about my private life, which I didn’t like.
If I had ever lifted a World Cup with England, I would have collected the trophy and then retired forever. It would have been perfect. Sooner or later England will win a big trophy and I think it could happen very quickly because the players are very good. There is such huge quality in that team.
Since my cancer diagnosis, I have been extremely lucky to visit all my old clubs. As well as that, I was invited to visit Liverpool and that is a memory I will cherish forever. It was beautiful, all of it.
The response from the public has been wonderful. It has given me energy and positivity. I have cried a lot over the past few months. They have been happy tears, mostly. I would like people to remember me as a decent coach who tried to do his best. I hope they enjoyed me being their manager. My message to everyone would be: don’t give up. Never give up.
Do not give up, is my message for life. And please don’t forget this: life is always, always to be celebrated.
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