Svennis : min historia

by Sven-Göran Eriksson, Stefan Lövgren

>"I den här boken kommer jag att berätta min historia. Det har jag aldrig gjort tidigare. Varken för min bror eller för mina vänner, inte heller för min före detta fru eller någon av mina flickvänner, inte ens för min son, dotter, far eller mor. Jag kommer att berätta den sanna historien om vem jag är."
Sven-Göran "Svennis" Eriksson

Få inom världsfotbollen har under de senaste tre decennierna analyserats så grundligt som Svennis. Nu berättar han allt om sitt hemlighetsfulla liv och om spelet såväl på som utanför fotbollsplanen. Svennis historia är världsfotbollens historia, från folksport till miljardindustri. Hans 35-åriga tränarkarriär har tagit honom runt hela världen och 2001 blev han Englands förste utländske förbundskapten. IFK Göteborg, Benfica, Roma och Manchester City är några av klubbadresserna i en makalös resa fylld av dramatik och med- och motgångar. Även på det privata planet.

Var står han i dag, vid sextiofem års ålder, på väg mot slutet av en legendarisk och mytomspunnen karriär? Den stora frågan har sprungit ifatt denne världsfotbollens vagabond: vad ska jag göra när drömmen tar slut?

Genres: Biography, Football, Sports, Nonfiction, Swedish Literature

352 pages, Hardcover

First published November 5, 2013

About the author

Sven-Göran Eriksson was a Swedish football player and manager.
After a playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management between 1977 and 2001, winning 18 trophies with a variety of league clubs in Sweden, Portugal, and Italy. In European competition, he won both the UEFA Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup (the last edition of the latter trophy before its abolition) and reached the final of the European Cup.
Eriksson later managed the national teams of England, Mexico, Philippines and the Ivory Coast, as well as Manchester City and Leicester City in England. Eriksson coached in ten countries: Sweden, Portugal, Italy, England, Mexico, Ivory Coast, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, China and the Philippines.

Reviews

[Mendes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting one.

[Laura Walin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tavallaan Svenniksen omaelämäkerta on kuin urheiluelämäkerrat yleensä: kronologinen selitys elämäni peleistä, kerrontamuotona päälausevetoinen hyvin eteenpäin nakuttava tykitys. Kolmessa suhteessa kirja oli kuitenkin vähän keskimääräistä mielenkiitoisempi. Ensinnäkin kysymyksessä oli valmentajan näkökulma, mikä oli itselleni virkistävää muutaman tähtiurheilijaelämäkerran jälkeen. Toiseksi Svennis oli suhteellisen avoin yksityiselämänsä sotkuista, niin nais- kuin rahakin, ja tarjosi sitä paitsi mielenkiintoisen välähdyksen urheilun jetsetrahan ympyröihin. Kolmanneksi, ja tämä oli kaikkein mielenkiintoisinta, Svennis osoittautui epäluotettavan kertojan arkkityypiksi. En tiedä tekikö hän sen tahallaan vai tahattomasti hyvin avoimesti, mutta niin vain jokainen päätös ja muistikuva, jossa hänen moraalinsa on ollut koetuksella, on jättänyt kirjasta päätellen hyvin hataran mielikuvan jälkipolville kerrottavaksi. Tekstissä vilahtelevat ilmaukset 'luullakseni', 'kenties' ja 'en muista'. Jopa 'en tiennyt/välittänyt ottaa selvää'. Joka tapauksessa on ilmiselvää, että tämä(kin) elämäkerta on kirjoittajansa tarina juuri sellaisena, kun hän on sen itse halunnut kertoa. Eikä se välttämättä ole totta.

[Gustaf II Adolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Om det finns en bok som förtjänar fem stjärnor är det denna bok - väldigt välskriven om Svennis liv fram till 2013. Läste klart bokens 364 sidor på 6 dagar och måste vara något rekord för mig. Sögs verkligen med i historien om Svennis otrolig liv inom. Jag visste att han hade haft en stor betydelse för den moderna fotbollen men ännu större än jag kunnat - en riktig legend.

Började läsa boken för att visste han var sjuk i cancer och skulle inom kort lämna jordelivet för att segla vidare. Vad jag inte visste var att den dagen skulle vara idag den 26:e augusti 2024 - det vill säga samma dag som jag löste klart boken.

Rest In Power!

[James Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very bog standard autobiography, with glimpses of Svens laconic dry wit. He also demonstrates a lot of honesty regarding his personal life.

“Baggio was an individualist. He played as a rifinitore, a second striker, in a free role behind the advanced striker. He was hard to fit into a system, but you had to give some players free rein to do that that they did best- win matches for you”

[Ozzie Adenborg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jag hade aldrig trott att jag skulle läsa mer än EN fotbollsbok, eller två (Zlatan och Åshöjdens BK) men nu har jag alltså lyssnat på Svennis: Min Historia och den var helt fantastiskt välskriven. Flytande, med precis lagom detaljer för att hålla intresset vid liv men inte tröttna. Skön inställning till livet och han kommer undan sina "affärer" utan vare sig bli respektlös eller "snaskig". Riktigt, riktigt bra.

[Ian Curragh · Rating 5 out of 5]

5stars

A good insight into the career of Sven Goran Eriksson. Talks of his playing career, his managerial career in Sweden, Portugal and Italy. This led to his most well known job as manager of England national team. Enjoyable read.

[Masinator69 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Länge sen jag läste den, men kommer ihåg att det var riktigt bra

[Akhlaq · Rating 4 out of 5]

SVE came to my attention in 1995/96 when he was linked with taking over at Blackburn and I notably remember him turning down that job to move to Lazio instead. My interest in his early coaching career is what interested me as he'd managed some fantastically gifted players such as Christian Vieri, Roberto Mancini, Alen Boksic, Rui Costa etc so he seemed to have a knack of working with players who had such massive reputations. The book has a parellel feel to SVE's personality. Calm, sincere, humble but with a quiet confidence in his ability. He worked diligently as a player before Tord Grip nudged him into coaching. But he was always on the go, moving from Gothenburg to Benfica via the former's UEFA Cup victory. He took a big job on at Roma where he managed their legendary player Falcao but he also saw the attentive, determined approach for a young player called Carlo Ancelotti, making him captain and who has now gone on to an enviable managerial career. His spells in Italy highlight the owners of the clubs and their temperamental yet strong approach in managing their clubs. SVE's decision to move to Roma was hindered by the rule that meant coaches could not be involved in game day as much as they are now. He obtained success at Sampdoria by building teams and working with Mancini, Gullit but also identifying the abilities of a Sinisa Mihajlovic. It was quite interesting to see the relationships SVE had with the Italian families who owned clubs like Roma, Sampdoria who had this sort of murkiness surrounding them as shown when SVE was asked by the Sampdoria owner to make sure his son didn’t take over the club when the former was dying. Eriksson seems to have shown a calm but disciplined approach to management in his early days. Whereas when he managed England, there was a perception that he was a soft touch and too easy going. But he must have been the opposite as shown by his decision to get rid of Giuseppe Signori at Lazio quite quickly. His coaching career post England and after leaving Manchester City show a naivety and poor decision making. He left Manchester City, then joined Mexico where the dictatorial nature of the board meant he was always going to struggle; maybe unwisely turned down the chance to go back to Benfica or stayed at the Ivory Coast; and the disaster at Notts County and other clubs shows a lack of forward-thinking about his management career. It seems clear that finance played a role in his thinking but also not helped by owners who didn’t understand football and didn’t give him the support needed at times. He does discuss his private life and you can feel empathy for the difficulties he suffered with his daughter when she was born; the inescapable lens on his private life when England manager and someone who struggled to understand the red-tops’ desire to get stories on him. Also his trust in people was what brought him financial woes such as letting Nancy take advantage of him and/or not booting her when he realised it was over sooner; Samir Khan fiasco and not taking urgent action when he first got wind that he was mis-handling his money so in a sense, you can understand why he took jobs on that people got an impression that it was all down to money because he’d been left in a position where he’d been abused financially and was having to take jobs that were good financially. It’s a shame that he didn’t get another opportunity to manage Sweden as he had discussions for the role privately but didn’t take that opportunity up or that he was sacked at Man City because he had had a fantastic first season under new ownership and might have achieved success had Thaksin not sold the club after his sacking.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

As characters in football go, Sven seems like the perfect subject for a football manager, whose on-field success is matched by salacious gossip. But this was incredibly dull, and he comes across as quite selfish, playing down stories rather than telling them.

The first half was marginally worse than the second, and after an interesting background on how Eriksson came into football, it then summarises each team's results as Eriksson gradually progresses up the football ladder. I wasn't expecting a manual, but there is little insight into what Eriksson actually does as a manager - his entire career is written as though things happen to his team and he is just a passive observer. He rarely takes responsibility for his failures or successes, and I questioned what benefit I was getting from this book rather than glancing at his club's results for a relevant season - the occasional meeting with a president the only personal input.

This is maintained into the second half as well, along with pithy remarks along the lines of 'I said we should buy X, he scored goals, we would have won the league if they'd listened to me' stated as fact. From a man who has won one major league title. I'm guessing the book was adapted for an English audience as there is a lot of detail about Leicester, Manchester City and Notts County after his England stint. But only in the Notts County chapters is any sort of personal decision made, where he states we wanted to keep the manager, as we are given more biographical accounts of owners and results.

On the personal level there seems little remorse for his actions either. After having a secret affair he doesn't seem to be apologetic towards his wife, he continues to live with Nancy Dell'Olio long after saying he didn't want to be with her and having relationships with other women, and there is a lot of suggestion when 'inviting women' to his house with no further details. Maybe he genuinely doesn't care, but there's not much to feel sympathetic about. Perhaps apologies would seem obviously false, just as he claims his recent jobs aren't about the money pages after saying he nees work to avoid bankruptcy.

Don't bother reading this, the content in no way merits its length.

[Alejandro Shirvani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicely written book, a little different from most managers' memoirs. Sven mixes a lot of his private life here as well as the football, but it is not the usual predictable eulogy of "my family are the most important thing to me" that you often read from sports stars. He is open and unapologetic about his various relationships with different women (most of which made the press, once he became England manager) - he was unmarried at this point and so didn't have anything to apologise for, just seems like he was naturally charming with women.

On the football side Sven's memories and insights are interesting. He is obviously frustrated about 2006 as this was the time he felt England were ready to achieve big things and in fairness we only lost in 2004 and 2006 on penalities and Eriksson's England record has looked better with posterity. There are interesting reveals here about his time at Manchester City, Notts County and Leicester City especially related to the owners and administrators of these clubs, as well as some eye openers from his earlier time in Italy about the corruption bouncing around the league.

All in all a nice read from a good man.

[Mika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vilken trevlig och karismatisk bok av Eriksson. Han skildrar gott som hela sin karriär, som en medelmåttig, men hårt arbetande mittfältare till början av tränarjobbet i Kina. Därtill får vi ta del av hans personliga liv, äktenskap, barn och vänskap, hans förflutna och filosofi kring fotboll, taktiskt tänkande och missnöjen längs vägen.

Jag var oerhört skeptisk till att läsa den här boken först, men jag är positivt överraskad. En väldigt lång bok men fångande. Jag har faktiskt ingen anledning att inte ge den full pott.

En kul återkommande replik är jag kommer inte ihåg riktigt men...

[Brian Haining · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't know too much about Sven before reading this memoir, only that he managed England and there were a few Front Page stories about his private life.

He tells his story in a 'matter of fact open way' and covers a lot of ground.

He seems totally focused on Football management irrespective of where it takes him as in location.

His career seemed to peak in Italy, pre his England team role and he has subsequently accepted lesser roles

He discussed his private life and football life in equal measure and appeared surprised when the tabloids took an interest on a number of occasions

It was an easy read where Sven appeared to be a person whose life was totally driven by the football

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sven seems to float through life never making any commitments and never being at fault for his failures. The sections on his early career and in Italy are interesting but he never goes into detail on his time with England. Overall a pool side read that was disappointing in tone and details.

[Fritzov · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be honest Sven had a amazing career, properly one of the most successful in modern football.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating insight into the career to date of SGE.

[Eero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting to read about his life. Would have hoped more of an tactital inside look.

[O* · Rating 3 out of 5]

Partly fun, but not much more...

[Sven · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible, he's not worthy of the honourable Sven-name.

[Hannes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Goa Svennis