Sven-Goran Eriksson Cried Hearing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ at Anfield

The football community is mourning the loss of Sven-Goran Eriksson, the former England manager, who has died at the age of 76.

Eriksson had been struggling with poor health and disclosed earlier this year that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had a year to live at best.

“Sven-Goran Eriksson has passed away,” his family announced in a statement released on Sunday, August 26. “After a long illness, SGE died in the morning at home surrounded by his family.

“His closest mourners are his daughter Lina; son Johan with his wife Amana and granddaughter Sky; father Sven; girlfriend Yanisette with son Alcides; brother Lars-Erik with wife Jumnong. The family requests privacy to mourn in peace.”

Eriksson, despite never managing Liverpool, held a special connection with the club. Earlier this year, he realized his dream of managing Liverpool in a legends match against Ajax.

“A memory for life,” Eriksson remarked after Liverpool’s 4-2 victory. “Everybody was the winner today. It was beautiful, absolutely incredible. Everything from ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ to the rest of the match.”

“I think we were the better team even in the first half. You always worry that you might lose, but it was a very good first half and an extremely good second half. But the big winners were all of us.”

When asked about his emotions during Liverpool fans’ traditional pre-match rendition of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone,’ Eriksson admitted, “I was crying.”

Reflecting in the recently released Amazon Prime documentary, Sven, Eriksson shared: “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 not everyone will 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. Bye.”