Sven Goran Eriksson Interview BBC Breakfast 2013

uh we're joined now by the former England boss ven yuran Ericson one of the best known football managers in the world in fact good morning good morning morning um your book you've written a book recently your book is not just about football but I want to start by asking you a football question about the World Cup in 2006 um you say that you wish you'd taken a psychologist with you with the England team yes you think they perhaps mentally weren't prepared for penalties or not Tough Enough well when was England prepared for penalty shootouts I don't know when they won one so I regret that I didn't do that because we were knocked out 2004 in Portugal penalty shootouts and then again to 2006 and obviously we was not prepared and I think it was a mental thing but it's still a mental thing isn't it I mean penalty shootouts are a curse for England so it has Roy got that set up do you think would that be your advice that would be my only advice to Roy prepare penalty shootouts and prepare how well I think as a football coach is difficult to prep prepare it because it's it's not football in one way you start in the midline you take uh the ball or without the ball and you walk 50 yards yeah and then you put the ball and it's you against the rest of the world so it's how many thoughts do you think a football player have when he goes from the midline to take it and um thinking about if I miss it we are out the whole England is out it's it's a tough business well it is aough and if sorry if you're not prepared for it mentally it's very very difficult it's a tough business being a player it's a very tough business being an England manager right at the beginning of the book the quote is Eng holds you hostage and then spits you out M that's that was your overview of your time yeah England manager in one way it's like that um you sitting there you can't stop the job because then you betray England and the team and everything so it's uh very much you sitting there waiting for that They Se you and sooner or later they will do it for one or another reason so but I don't want to be negative it's a beautiful job it's a fantastic job the biggest job you can have in the world one of the things you're well known for we're seeing pictures there of David Beck and Robbie Fowler is you got on brilliantly with that team didn't you I think so yes you all seem to really like each other yeah we did um and the atmosphere in the team was in the squad was very very good and everyone 2006 we thought thought we had a chance to to reach the final and also win it and still today I can't see I couldn't see any team who was better than we were 2006 uh in the book you you go into a lot of detail about your private life which you never really talked about despite a lot of questioning in the past I you'll remember very well those press conferences when you're talk supposed to be talking about the England team that every question yes is about your private life but why talk about it now because I'm I'm sensing that you it's not you're not naturally a terribly forthcoming person in terms of personal information no but if you write a book which I did then U put it straight on what happened my opinion my truth because it has been written a lot about me as a football coach and as a private man and most of it no it's not right but why not stick to why not stick to the football because what's happened is you've been open about your private life and then people in your private life have come back with some very intimate and perhaps not terribly flattering comments of their own yeah but that's uh their problem it's not my problem but does I I put it straight how it happened what happened and things like that because before I die I I wanted to do that this is what happened if it's right if it was wrong that's another question but this is what happened but when you read for instance or Johnson's response mhm I haven't well she's not been terribly flattering about your relationship in some aspects do you deliberately avoid reading that no no it's I have it in my bag I got it yesterday evening when I came from China but you it yet no are you prepared for it yeah of course I am are you somebody who gets hurt by what people say about you no because if I would be hurt uh in the past what they said about me then I would be very very hurt because when I was England manager whatever you did you did it wrong have you got thick skin yeah I think so and uh the only thing is you have to prepare your family your parents your brother your children that this will happen it will come out and don't read and if you read it don't believe it's everything is true of it because that's a fact what has been written about me something is true but a lot of things not true I can remember Charlie mentioned you know press conferences England press conferences where you would be asked about your private life I can remember being in those press conferences in Germany all around the world chasing you around Europe asking you those questions that you perhaps didn't want to answer was that uncomfortable at the time it was uh sometimes embarrassing and what I'm saying embarrassing was that um I was a football coach of England and the press conference should be about the football the match we're going to play or the match we played or whatever but football questions and a lot of people non football journalists coming in to press conference and they didn't want to talk football they want to talk about other things so I felt sorry many times for the football writers who were there it's funny I think that hearing you speaking now I'm sort of mindful do you think that people were kind of baffled by your the way the way you naturally are that you're quite reticent and you speak very quietly it's kind of not what we used to from football do you think we were all a bit bemused by what you presented to us I don't know I am what I am and uh I'm not screaming because my voice is not made for screaming and uh you can show that you're angry that you're happy in other ways than jumping around and screaming and what are you most proud of in my job or your life I was proud every day I had the England job huge job fantastic the best in the world that made me very very proud uh you are proud in your uh professional life every time you win a football game every time you win titles which I have done in Sweden in Portugal in Italy so that makes you proud of course I'm proud about my children I have two fantastic children um proud of a lot of other things privately but um uh England job big one thank you very much for coming to see this thank you lovely to talk to you Sven the book is called simply Sven my story and it is available today