FORMER England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson opened up about where he wanted his ashes to be spread just days before his death.
Eriksson passed away on Monday morning aged 76 following a battle with pancreatic cancer.
His two children announced the heartbreaking news on social media with a statement that read: “Our father Sven-Goran Eriksson fell asleep peacefully in his home at Björkefors outside Sunne this morning.
“He has for a long time fought bravely with his illness, but now it came to an end.”
Just days before his passing, a documentary titled ‘Sven’ premiered on streaming service Amazon Prime Video.
The documentary focuses on Eriksson’s life and legacy – including his time as England boss.
But the legendary manager also took the time to open up about his terminal cancer diagnosis.
And in one heartbreaking clip, he revealed where he wanted his ashes spread.
Sitting next to Lake Fryken in Sweden, he said: “Beautiful place. It makes you calm. It makes me calm.
“Below the mountain there is where my father grew up. And if you look straight on that’s Torsby where I was growing up. And in Sunne I was born.
“I always thought, great place to sleep. The ashes could be thrown into the water here. It feels like home.”
Eriksson also shared his heartbreaking final message to fans in the documentary.
He said: “I had a good life. 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. Hopefully, at the end people will say, yeah, he was a good man, but everyone will not say that.
“I hope you will remember me as a positive guy trying to do everything he could do. Don’t be sorry, smile.
“Thank you for everything, coaches, players, the crowds, it’s been fantastic. Take care of yourself and take care of your life. And live it.”
SunSport’s Shaun Custis and Martin Lipton discussed Sven-Goran Eriksson’s England legacy following his death aged 76.
Custis: “He was the most polite, civil manager I’ve ever dealt with in my life.”
Lipton: “There are many managers who are prone to paroxysms of aggravation and screaming matches.
“You can’t imagine Sven ever raising his voice, let alone having a row with someone. He was a gentle man and a gentleman throughout his dealings with us certainly. And I think that always came across from the very outset.
“He was clearly a quite calm, unflappable character and he wasn’t going to let anything perturb him no matter what it was. No matter what questions were thrown at him, no matter what stick he got. He had this veneer of utter tranquillity.”
Custis: “There was a lot of mystery to him. You weren’t reading things about him every two minutes online as you would do now but he came in and he got off to a great start with that 3-0 win over Spain.”
Lipton: “He just loved being around football, didn’t he that was the thing.
“He didn’t want to give it up… He actually, genuinely loved being around football players, being a manager and all the trappings of that and just being important. Because he enjoyed being Sven-Goran Eriksson – football manager.”
Lipton: “He brought back a belief in the England team in that period, he gave us a night we’ll never forget and oversaw the real change in the culture of English football in that it became more celebrity in many ways.
“The players became bigger than they’d ever been and he managed to keep that under a degree of wraps… He was a better manager than I thought he was at the time.”
