Sven-Goran Eriksson's foul-mouthed clash with Alex Ferguson over Wayne Rooney
Former England boss Sven Goran-Eriksson was often known as one of the calmest managers around, but even he could lose his temper now and then.
Eriksson, 75, was named as the new Three Lions manager in November 2000 on a five-year deal following the departure of Kevin Keegan. Eriksson guided England to three successive quarter-final finishes at major tournaments, with the last of those coming at the 2006 World Cup, ultimately losing to Portugal on penalties.
He left his role as England manager in July 2006 and went on to manage Manchester City, Mexico, Ivory Coast and Leicester among others. Eriksson last managed Philippines, where he won two of his 10 games in charge.
But it was during his time as England boss that Eriksson was involved in one high-profile bust-up with Manchester United icon Sir Alex Ferguson. The Swede clashed with Ferguson before the 2006 World Cup over Wayne Rooney, who was struggling for fitness after breaking his metatarsal weeks before the tournament. However, that didn't stop Eriksson from selecting the forward for Germany.
It's safe to say Ferguson was not best pleased with Eriksson. David Dein, formerly the vice-chairman of both the Football Association and Arsenal, opened up on the incident in 2022 in an extract of his book 'Calling the Shots: How to Win in Football and Life', shared in the Daily Mail, he wrote: "The only time I ever saw Sven annoyed was when Sir Alex Ferguson called him at our World Cup base in 2006.
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"Fergie was furious that Wayne Rooney was going to play at the World Cup, with England gambling on his recovery from a broken metatarsal. 'You’re finished,' he screamed. Sven lost it. 'F*** off,' he said. 'Alex, I will pick Rooney. Have a nice holiday. Ciao, bye.'
Sven-Goran managed the England men's football team from 2001 until 2006 (Getty Images)"Overall, I believe Sven was a success. Of course, he wasn’t perfect. He was flawed — as we found out."
Eriksson managed 1,207 games during a near 40-year managerial career, and has now sadly confirmed a diagnosis of terminal cancer, which could leave him with less than a year to live.
Eriksson told Sweden's P1 radio station: "Everyone understands that I have an illness that is not good. Everyone guesses it's cancer and it is. But I have to fight as long as I can."
He added: "It is not good. Everyone guessed it's cancer and it is. But I have to fight as long as I can. But you can trick your brain. See the positive in things, don't wallow in adversity, because this is the biggest adversity of course, but make something good out of it. They don't know how long I had cancer, maybe a month or a year."
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