Eriksson insists he 'will not give up to cancer and just sit alone at home'

Former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson has admitted his terminal cancer diagnosis was very difficult to accept for him and his family.

Eriksson, 75, announced on Thursday that he has ‘maybe at best a year’ to live following his diagnosis.

His pancreatic cancer was picked up after he suffered ‘five small strokes’ having collapsed after going for a 5k run last year.

Eriksson, who served as England manager at three tournaments between 2001 and 2006, was asked by TalkTV about how his family had reacted to the news.

He admitted that the diagnosis had been difficult to accept, but declared that 'life has to go on'.

‘We have to deal with it because the alternative is to give up and be sitting alone at home,' Eriksson said.

‘The whole family, the children are grown up of course one living in Spain and one in Stockholm, so they are coming as often as they can.

‘We talk every day.

‘In the beginning it was very difficult to accept it, but once you accept it, life goes on.

‘Life has to go on.’

Eriksson's two children had ensured he underwent tests last year following his collapse on the 5k run.

While he was informed he would recover from the small strokes, doctors then revealed the bombshell cancer diagnosis.

‘Well, I thought I was fully healthy, but suddenly I got a stroke, small strokes, so I fell,' Eriksson told the BBC.

‘My children took me to the hospital and after one day of examination they told me I’d had five small strokes but that’s OK they said, no problem, you will recover 100 per cent from that.

‘But worse is they said you have cancer which we can’t operate on and we will give you treatment, medicine and you’ll live as long as possible.’

Eriksson also spoke to Sweden's P1 radio station, and said: 'Everyone understands that I have