Former England Boss who exposed fraud in Nigerian Football gets dying wish to coach Liverpool

Legendary Swedish manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson will finally get his chance to take charge of Liverpool, the club has announced.

Eriksson, a lifelong Liverpool fan, after being told by doctors in the UK that he has barely a year left to live due to terminal pancreatic cancer, upon reminiscing on his life, said his wish has always been to manage the English club.

Reacting to the statement, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp offered Eriksson, who managed England from 2001 to 2006 the opportunity to come over and even work as Liverpool’s manager for a day.

Now Liverpool have announced that Eriksson will be part of a three-man management team for a Legends charity match against Ajax at Anfield on March 23.

Eriksson shall be joined by Reds legends Ian Rush and John Barnes, the club revealed, Tuesday evening.

“All connected with the club and LFC Foundation look forward to warmly welcoming LFC fan Sven and his family to Anfield — and seeing him in the dugout on the day,” Liverpool said.

It was also revealed that funds realized from the event shall be given to a charity foundation devoted to fighting cancer.

Eriksson, who turned 76 recently, said he has pancreatic cancer and that it is inoperable.

He was England’s first ever foreign-born coach, after making his name winning league titles at club level with Lazio in Italy, Benfica in Portugal and IFK Gothenburg in his native Sweden.

In 2010, the manager was approached by the Nigeria Football Federation to manage the Super Eagles after indigenous coach Shuaibu Amodu was sacked barely two months to the World Cup in South Africa.

In an interview in 2020 with Branschen.se, a Swedish news website, he said he rejected the offer after he was told by an official of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) that his salary would be paid into two different bank accounts.

According to the Swede, the NFF gave him a condition that his salary would be paid into his account and another part into “another account that was not in my name.”

“The only time I can remember having undergone any form that resembles an interview was when I was asked about the job of Nigeria’s national team coach in 2010 ahead of the World Cup in South Africa,” Erikson said.

“I went down in the belief that I would meet the chairman of the national team association (NFF) and that it was really only contract formalities that we would go through.

“But when I arrived, several coaches had received the same invitation, including Lars Lagerbäck. I was very surprised but found myself quiet quickly.

“After a while, I was called into the room with a chairman who declared that they wanted me as a coach, but with the proviso that my salary would be divided into two parts: one that I got into my account and another that would be deposited into another account that was not in my name.

“There I refused on the standing. I thought something didn’t go right. I’ve never applied for a job in my entire life.

“All my assignments have come about through the results I have achieved. I have never gone through any traditional job interviews, never sat down and conducted any tests or been analysed.

“After the meeting (interview), an agent whom Athole (Eriksson’s agent) worked with locally explained that half of my salary would be deposited in a special bank account. It was not too hard to figure out that the special account would involve someone else taking a piece of my pie if I got the job. There was no way I would agree to that. I never received an offer of a contract, and it was just as well.”

Lars Lagerback was eventually appointed as Eagles coach. He led the team to the tournament where Nigeria crashed out in the group stage. The squad finished bottom of Group B which also had Argentina, South Korea and Greece.

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