Sven-Goran Eriksson, a former England manager has finally spoken up on his feud with the legendary football manager, Sir Alex Ferguson. Eriksson was in charge of England’s World Cup squad in 2006.
Rooney, then a Manchester United striker, famously fractured his metatarsal bone during a game against Chelsea shortly before the tournament in Germany.
The striker was considered a major doubt for the World Cup but was rushed back to fitness in order to be named in Eriksson’s 23-man squad, according to DailyMail report.
It was a decision that ruffled the feathers of the then United boss Ferguson, who was so furious he threatened to ‘kill’ Eriksson during a heated phone call between the two.
‘With Alex, the amazing thing was it was seven o’clock in the morning or earlier,’ the former Sweden manager told The Times as he reflected on the row.
“Always. When he [Ferguson] was angry. And never “Hello Sven, how are you?” It was “whuurssshhhh” [straight into yelling]. I thought he should kill me. He said, “I will kill you. You are finished.” But I represented England and you have to stand up.
‘What’s right is right and what’s wrong is wrong and when you say “Don’t pick Rooney because I’m going to kill you” . . . I said, “F*** off, what’s going on with you?”
“And he was screaming. Whenever he got like that… it has no meaning. That’s why I was, “Alex, I will pick Rooney. Now, have a nice holiday. Ciao, bye.”‘ He told MailOnline.
But Rooney never looked quite right during the tournament and failed to score a single goal during England’s run to the quarter-finals.
Rooney and England’s collective misery was compounded after he saw red against Portugal, who then went on to win 3-1 on penalties to advance to the semi-finals.
Eriksson left his role as England manager after the disappointing tournament and was replaced by his assistant Steve McClaren.
0 comments:
Post a Comment