Sven-Goran Eriksson sticks to 'refuse to give up' promise amid cancer battle
Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson is courageously sticking to his vow to keep living as "normally as possible" after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Eriksson, 75, has incurable pancreatic cancer which he's taking steps to battle the symptoms of, but the football icon admits that in the "best case" scenario he only has one year left to live. The ex- Manchester City and Leicester boss won't sit by and let the horrible disease consume his life, though, and declared last week: "I refuse to give up, I want to live an every-day normal life."
On Monday evening, Eriksson did exactly that in his homeland. The brave 75-year-old sat at the table of honour during Sweden's 25th Sports Gala held at the Friends Arena in Stockholm.
Eriksson was suited and booted in a suave navy blue blazer and navy blue pair of trousers, accompanied by a white buttoned shirt and sky blue tie. The former Three Lions manager was pictured smiling with fellow guests and he'll hopefully have a big reason to smile in March courtesy of Liverpool.
Having revealed that it was his "dream" to manage the Reds during his distinguished coaching career, Eriksson has been offered the chance to take charge of a team of Liverpool legends during a charity match at home to Ajax in aid of the LFC Foundation.
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Multiple stars who are set to feature at Anfield have pleaded to make it happen, and current Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is ready to welcome Eriksson with open arms. "I don't know him, unfortunately not. I know him without knowing him, we never met," Klopp recently explained to reporters.
"Yes, it was obviously very touching news when you heard about it. I heard for the first time about his admiration or love for Liverpool and that he was a fan for his whole life. So, I heard now about the legends match and stuff like that. I'm not in charge of that so I can't say anything about that.
Sven-Goran Eriksson appeared to be enjoying himself (TT NEWS AGENCY/AFP via Getty Ima)"The only thing I can say is absolutely he's very welcome to come here and he can sit in my seat in my office and do my job for a day if he wants. That's no problem. Being on the sideline might be a little bit more difficult.
"To have him here and show him everything and how this wonderful club developed over the years, I think that's definitely something we will tell him. He can come over and have a few wonderful hours here, I'm sure."
Eriksson has already confirmed that he'd "of course" like to manage the Liverpool XI and work in the famous home dugout at Anfield. "That's always been my dream," he smiled while appearing on Good Morning Britain. "But like a dream, I'm not complaining, I've had a lot of good football teams - national teams and the clubs so I'm happy."
Sven-Goran Eriksson looked suave in his navy blue suit (TT NEWS AGENCY/AFP via Getty Ima)Sadly, there's no cure for pancreatic cancer but Eriksson wants to make the best of his situation. "The aim for the rest of my life is to wake up in the morning and feel okay," he affirmed. "Most of the morning I feel okay, it's not good but it's as good as it can be. I'm not complaining but I refuse to sit down crying, feeling sorry for myself."
Eriksson added: "You have to work with it, and don't think about it 24 hours a day and don't sit at home and do nothing, live your life as normally as possible as long as you can."
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