SGöran Eriksson’s appointment as England manager in 2001 – the first foreigner to hold the post – was seen as a symbol of a more cosmopolitan nation, but the subsequent press treatment now seems more like a relic of a bygone era.
For decades, England’s coaches provided colourful material for Britain’s grim tabloids. Glenn Hoddle and Kevin Keegan’s glamour faded and their pop careers were short-lived, while Terry Venables’ abrasiveness earned him the respect of corrupt clubs.
When a bespectacled Swede who looked like a middle-level manager was appointed head of the Three Lions in 2001, there was great dismay in the country’s editorial offices.
But editors soon realised that Eriksson’s life off the pitch often appealed to them – and their readers – more than his football tactics. And soon he was on every front page and back page.
There were accusations of betrayal following his secret meeting with then Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich in 2003. Eriksson also fell victim to an elaborate “fake sheikh” affair when he said he was ready to become the £5m-a-year manager of Aston Villa just five months before he was due to lead England to the 2006 World Cup.
Perhaps most exciting, however, was Eriksson’s complex love life, which included a number of high-profile relationships, including with lawyer Nancy Dell’Olio, television presenter Ulrika Jonsson and FA secretary Faria Alam.
In a time before the wiretapping scandal, when tabloids – riding high on the “Wags” phenomenon – freely published obscene pictures and intimate details from the private lives of celebrities, Eriksson’s encounters suddenly became the center of attention.
In an interview in 2018, Eriksson said that the huge attention his love life attracted took its toll. He said: “I thought I was prepared for England, but for things outside of football, for my private life, I was not prepared.”
The saga began when he started dating Dell’Olio a few years after his divorce from Ann-Christine Pettersson (with whom he had two children). The relationship publicly broke down when Eriksson moved to England and began an affair with Jonsson – leading to an infamous falling out between the two women.
“Sven is behaving like a lying scoundrel,” Jonsson said at the time. “He promised me that it was over with Nancy, but then he goes out to dinner with her and doesn’t even call me.” Jonsson later said that sex with Eriksson was like “reading the instructions for Ikea furniture.”
Dell’Olio later reinstated him. Ironically, however, Eriksson was accused of distracting the England team in the run-up to the 2002 World Cup by the same newspapers that had repeatedly written about his private life. Eriksson was then forced to publicly state that the affair would have no impact on the team.
Yet he was always aware that it was the press that was on his side, not the fans. “I always thought that if I did a good job, the English would support me. I was there for five and a half years and I never met any rude or abusive English football fans,” he said in 2017. “Almost everything negative came from the press. There was a big difference between the English fans and the English press.”
Later, in 2004, Eriksson had an affair with Alam, who was also having an affair with then-executive director of the Football Association, Mark Palios. Alam ended the relationship with Eriksson when she found out he was dating five other women at the same time – and she later appeared on Celebrity Big Brother. In the Amazon Prime documentary Sven, Alam said Eriksson told her to “tell your story, tell them everything. Make some money, why not?”
Although the public scrutiny of his relationships became a source of torment for Eriksson – he eventually split from Dell’Olio in 2007, before meeting his partner Yaniseth Alcides – he said he had had “a good life”.
A perfect example of this was the exchange he had with German coach and former international Dietmar Hamann during a post-season tour of Thailand with Manchester City in 2008.
In his autobiography, “The Didi Man,” Hamann recalls lounging on a sun lounger by the pool at 10 a.m. and seeing Eriksson carrying a silver tray with a bottle of champagne.
“I looked up and said, ‘Chief, what are we celebrating?’ … He turned to me, smiled his gentle smile, and assumed the air of a Buddhist philosopher as he said, ‘Life, Emperor.’
“Then, after a pause for dramatic effect, it says, ‘We celebrate… life.'”
