Sven-Göran Eriksson has described the opportunity to take charge of a Liverpool legends team in a charity match at Anfield on Saturday as a “dream” and revealed he held discussions about managing the club for real “many years ago”.
Eriksson will oversee Liverpool Legends against their counterparts from Ajax in a fixture aimed at raising money for the LFC Foundation, the club’s official charity, which delivers a variety of education programmes and supports projects aimed at tackling social issues, including youth employment, in the city.
A crowd of 59,655 is expected at what has become an annual event at Anfield and it is likely no one will be more excited to be there than Eriksson given his lifelong love of Liverpool, something the former England manager spoke about earlier this year after announcing he had about 12 months to live having been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
That led to Jürgen Klopp inviting Eriksson to spend a day as Liverpool manager, which in turn led to the club asking him to take charge of their legends side. It was an offer the 76-year-old Swede immediately and gleefully accepted.
“My father was a Liverpool fan, still is a Liverpool fan, so it [his love for the club] came from there,” said Eriksson.
“It’s like a dream [taking charge of the legends team] and when they [the club] asked I thought it was a joke. But I said: ‘Of course I will come,’ and it is for charity which makes it even more lovely.”
Eriksson’s love of Liverpool is such that he wrote to the club in 1979, the year he took charge of IFK Göteborg, asking whether he could visit to watch training sessions under the then manager, Bob Paisley.
“They agreed and I had the honour of going in the bootroom, which was fantastic,”
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