Sven-Goran Eriksson has said was “close” to becoming Liverpool manager “many years ago” and will be fulfilling a dream when takes charge of the club’s legends side against Ajax at Anfield on Sunday.
Former England head coach Eriksson led Manchester City after leaving the Three Lions in 2006 and later had a spell as Leicester City boss – and the 76-year-old, who announced in January that he had been given a cancer diagnosis of “about a year” to live, has described holding negotiations with the Reds.
“When I was manager, I always dreamt about Liverpool but it never happened,” recalled the Swede.
“It was close once. There were some discussions once. It was many years ago. It never happened – but now it will happen.”
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A Liverpool fan through his father, Eriksson says he “thought it was a joke” when he was asked to join club legends John Barnes and Ian Rush in the dugout for the charity game.
“I said, ‘Of course I will come to that’,” he added. “And then it’s a charity [game], which makes it even more lovely. It will be great to see.”
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“My father was a Liverpool fan. He’s still a Liverpool fan, so it came from there. Then in Sweden they started [a TV show], so every Saturday you could see one game.
“[In] ’79, something like that I think, I wrote to the club and asked if I could come to see a training session.
Looking back to last year’s #LFCLegends matchup as we faced Celtic Legends 🎥 PIC.TWITTER.COM/IMLXVDOZYD
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) MARCH 21, 2024
“They answered and invited me. I saw a game and saw some training. I had the honour to go into the boot room of Liverpool at that time and that was great, fantastic.
“It must be the best atmosphere in the world in all the football stadiums I’ve been to.”
The eighth edition of the annual legends game is a sell-out, with 60,000 fans expected to watch on.
Liverpool say the series has raised more than £6.4 million so far in funds to benefit local and international causes.
