Sven Goran-Eriksson's family allow his final words to be published before funeral
A funeral will be held on friday for former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, who died aged 76 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, and tributes have been paid
Sven-Goran Eriksson reminded the public that "life is always, always to be celebrated" in a final newspaper column, published postumously with his family's blessing.
Former England manager Eriksson died in August at the age of 76. He previously revealed in January that he had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, saying at the time he had been told he likely had less than a year to live.
A funeral for the Swede will be held on Friday in his childhood home of Torsby. He had publicly described it as a "great place" for him to be laid to rest.
Eriksson bid the public farewell in an Amazon Prime documentary, saying: "I think we are all scared of the day when we die, but life is about death as well. You have to learn to accept it for what it is. " Now, in a final written message, he has evoked the story from Didi Hamann which many feel sums him up.
"The response from the public has been wonderful," Eriksson wrote for The Telegraph. "It has given me energy and positivity. I have cried a lot over the past few months. They have been happy tears, mostly.
"I would like people to remember me as a decent coach who tried to do his best. I hope they enjoyed me being their manager. My message to everyone would be: don’t give up. Never give up.
"Do not give up, is my message for life," added Eriksson, who said his life had been a "dream". "And please don’t forget this: life is always, always to be celebrated."
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The comment about celebrating life is a nod to Hamann's tale, shared in the former Germany midfielder's book 'The Didi Man'. "One morning I was on a sun lounger by the pool when I saw Sven walking towards me carrying a silver tray with a bottle of champagne and two glasses on it," he wrote.
“It was still only ten o’clock in the morning…Sven came over and put the champagne on the table next to me, then placed one glass in front of me and the other by his lounger. "I looked up and said, ‘Boss, what are we celebrating?’… He turned to me and smiled that gentle smile of his and took on the air of a Buddhist philosopher as he said, ‘Life, Kaiser.’ Then after pausing for dramatic effect, ‘We are celebrating…life.’”
Christopher Jansson, of the Torsby funeral home looking after Eriksson's funeral, expects to see as many people outside the church as in it when the former England manager is laid to rest. The ceremony is expected to be the largest they have handled, but it comes amidst Eriksson's own desire to be given a send-off where he began his life.
"A beautiful place, [it] makes you calm, makes me calm," he said in the aforementioned documentary, befor gesturing towards a lake. "Below the mountain [is] where my father grew up. If you look straight on, that's Torsby, where I grew up," he continued. "I always thought great place, to sleep. The ashes could be thrown into the water here. It feels like home."
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