Shane

In January 2024, Sven-Göran Eriksson told the world he had terminal pancreatic cancer. Asked whether there was anything left in football he wished he'd done, he didn't have to think long. This was a man who'd managed Benfica, Roma, Lazio, England and Manchester City. Still, one job had always got away. “I’m a Liverpool supporter.” “I’ve always wished to be the manager of Liverpool.” It started when he was a kid in Sweden. His dad and brother were Liverpool fans, and his son later followed them. When Swedish TV began showing English football on Saturday afternoons, there was only ever one live match. “We always hoped they would show Liverpool.” In 1979, aged 31 and just starting out as a manager at IFK Gothenburg, he wrote to Bob Paisley asking whether he could come over and see how the European champions went about their work. “They said I was welcome to come.” So over he came to watch Liverpool train. “I remember the training.” “It was very simple, very high quality.” After one match he was brought into the Boot Room. Liverpool were in a title race with Manchester United, so an hour or so after the final whistle he asked how United had done. “We don’t know.” That answer taught him nearly as much as the training sessions. “Can you imagine that you are so secure of yourself like Liverpool were?” “They did it their way, they didn’t care what others did.” More than two decades on, once he'd spoken about his illness and that one dream job, word reached Liverpool. Jürgen Klopp didn't hesitate. “He’s very welcome to come here.” “He can sit in my seat in my office and do my job for a day if he wants.” The club invited him onto the management team for the Legends game against Ajax at Anfield. Sven assumed someone was having him on. “When they asked, I thought it was a joke.” “Of course I will come to that.” On the 23rd of March 2024, almost 45 years after that letter to Bob Paisley, Sven-Göran Eriksson walked out at Anfield as Liverpool manager in front of nearly 60,000 people, with Steven Gerrard as his captain. Liverpool fell 2-0 behind to Ajax and turned it around to win 4-2. Gerrard was clear about who deserved the credit. “He changed everything at half-time.” “He’s still got it, he’s still got the magic.” “He made the difference.” Before kick-off, he stood on the pitch as the Kop sang You'll Never Walk Alone, the song he'd grown up listening to. “I cried.” “It was beautiful.” “To sit on the bench for Liverpool was the dream all my life.” “Now it has happened.” Five months later, Sven-Göran Eriksson passed away. He never got the Liverpool job the way he'd once dreamed of it, but he got his afternoon at Anfield. “It was beautiful, absolutely fantastic, incredible.” “A memory for life.”