The 76-year-old announced back in January that he has ‘maybe at best a year’ to live.Sven-Goran Eriksson has shared an emotional farewell message to the world as he approaches the final stages of his battle with terminal illness.
The 76-year-old former England manager announced in January that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has “at best” a year to live.
He has since realised a lifelong dream of managing a Liverpool team at Anfield and, with his family in attendance, the Swede was visibly emotional as ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ played over the PA system pre-match.
Eriksson has also visited stadiums of former teams such as Gothenburg, Lazio, Sampdoria and Benfica, where he has received an incredible response from those in the stands. Now, fans will be able to look back at Eriksson’s life in a moving Prime Video documentary featuring the highs and lows of his remarkable career.
As well as special guest appearances from the likes of David Beckham and Wayne Rooney, the former Manchester City manager will open up on the heartbreaking reality of his terminal cancer diagnosis.
Speaking at the end of the feature-length documentary, titled Sven, he issues a heart-wrenching goodbye message to the world.
I had a good life,” Eriksson says. “I think we are all scared of the day when we die, but life is about death as well.“You have to learn to accept it for what it is.
Hopefully at the end people will say, yeah, he was a good man, but everyone will not say that.I hope you will remember me as a positive guy trying to do everything he could do. Don’t be sorry, smile.
Thank you for everything, coaches, players, the crowds, it’s been fantastic. Take care of yourself and take care of your life. And live it. Bye.”From his home in Sunne, the Swede sat down with commentator Steve Bower in March to speak about life following his devastating terminal cancer diagnosis.
You appreciate waking up in the morning and feeling well and normally you don’t do that. You take it for granted,” Eriksson said in the interview with Channel 4.
In the beginning when you get the diagnosis coming from nowhere, it’s like a shock but after a while you learn to live with it.”He added: “Today I have a normal life and I am not thinking about what’s going to happen tomorrow or the day after. Otherwise you sit down and think pity of yourself. No. Leave it.“I don’t talk about it very much. It is what it is. I can’t beat it, probably.
Anyhow, life is beautiful.As well as speaking about his diagnosis, a number of players from England’s ‘Golden Generation’ sent video messages of support to their former manager, including Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and Owen Hargreaves.
Hargreaves, who was handed his England debut by Eriksson in 2001, looked incredibly emotional as he thanked Eriksson for the impact he had on his career.“First of all, I just want to say thank you for everything you did for me throughout my career,” Hargreaves said. “For believing in me when a lot of people didn’t.
You actually changed my life in so many ways.He added: “I just want to say thank you. Your support meant so much to me. I just want to wish you all the best. Lots of love. Stay strong. And I’ll hopefully get to see you soon.”Sven will be available to watch on Prime Video on August 23.
