Sven-Goran Eriksson: The Successful Loser
Fourteen years after Sven-Goran Eriksson's last major trophy, the 66-year-old Swede continues to be a successful loser having signed an unbelievable $6 million deal to manage Chinese Super League club Shanghai SIPG.
As a child, Eriksson's parents shielded him from the harsh realities of money.
"My parents would make the journey across the border to Norway to buy butter and flour, staples that were cheaper there than in Sweden," Eriksson said, per his autobiography. "Personally, I was oblivious to any financial hardships that my parents endured."
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Growing up as a mother's boy, Eriksson was motivated by his upbringing.
"One day her son would show the world what she was never able to show herself," Eriksson said, per his autobiography. "I was going to be her revenge on life."
It served as a daily reminder for Eriksson to capitalise on openings.
When then-Lazio owner Sergio Cragnotti presented an extravagant pitch to Eriksson in 1997, he bought in, which meant he quit before even starting at Blackburn Rovers.
Betraying the late Rovers owner Jack Walker for Cragnotti was a pragmatic decision.
The ends justified the means, per Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski's book Soccernomics:
"Someone in the audience in Zurich asked Eriksson whether such [reckless] behaviour [from Cragnotti] was healthy.
After all, Lazio ran out of money in 2002 when Cragnotti's food company, Cirio, went belly-up.
[...]
Eriksson replied: "It's not healthy. And if you see Lazio, it was not healthy. But we won the league. And we won the Cup Winners' Cup."
"
Ex-girlfriend Ulrika Jonsson's account of Eriksson "behaving like a lying cad," per Christa D'Souza and Boris Johnson at The Telegraph, extended into his professional life.
In the lead up to the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Eriksson, who was managing the England national team, was caught out by then-News of the World undercover reporter Mazher Mahmood for trying to initiate a take-over of Aston Villa.
Do you know what was the one overriding facet which led to Eriksson being conned by Mahmood, the "Fake Sheik"?
Fast money, which has factored into Eriksson's random and zany career choices.
- Manchester City: Spent over £45 million and in his "last 20 matches, City accumulated 21 points," per Ian Hughes at BBC Sport. Paid £2.5 million by then-City owner Thaksin Shinawatra to leave.
- Mexico national team: "Eriksson is reportedly being paid up to $5 million a year. He lives in the Polanco neighbourhood of Mexico City, residing in a 3,300-square-foot penthouse suite ... The rent is $12,000 a month," per Billy Witz at The New York Times. Eriksson lasted eight months.
- Notts County (director of football): Sold a bill of goods by Munto Finance, but declined to take the financially stricken club to court for an additional £2.4 million.
- Ivory Coast: Paid £270,000 for two months and 27 days of work.
- Leicester City: Spent £15 million and left the club in 13th place.
- BEC Tero Sasana (technical director): Signed a two-month contract worth $100,000.
- Al Nasr (technical director): Signed for 18 months but stayed for four months-and-a-half.
- Guangzhou R&F: Earned $2.5 million.
"To leave a job with a bad result is, I think, the worst thing in life to do," Eriksson said in 2001 when he abandoned Lazio for England, per BBC Sport. "They will always remember you as a loser."
Eriksson has recalibrated the meaning of what constitutes a loser.
If he does not cash in on big checks ASAP, then in his mind, he is a loser.
This forces him into quick cash-grabs and diminishes his chances of implanting his philosophy at a club and building the team over time.
An insatiable need for money explains why Eriksson has rubbed shoulders with an array of duplicitous people.
- Cragnotti (Lazio): Jailed "for the fraudulent bankruptcy of the foods conglomerate [Cirio]," per ANSA (h/t La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno).
- Shinawatra (Manchester City): "The [Thailand] Supreme Court has stripped his family of $1.4 billion in contested assets, over allegations of corruption and conflict of interest," per BBC News.
- Munto Finance (Notts County): Double-dealing company that plunged the club into debts of £7 million, per Sky Sports.
When you combine greed with naiveté—a trait which has seen Eriksson generate faux pas after faux pas to the joy of the tabloids—it invariably leads to a substantial loss of fortune.
Eriksson paid heavily leaving his finances to Samir Khan.
"Yes, that's right, [I lost] £10 million [due to Khan]," Eriksson said, per Henry Winter at The Telegraph. "He's probably the only person on earth I hate. I feel let down, angry and disappointed because I trusted this man for many, many years."
Lacking the Jose Mourinho- and Sir Alex Ferguson-like drive for trophies, Eriksson has never knowingly undersold himself.
Eriksson not only uses his aptitude as a "raconteur", a "trencherman" and a "charmer" to acquire beautiful women, per Thomas Sjoberg at The Observer (h/t The Guardian), but it doubles as a lock to ace big-money job interviews.
Eriksson has talked his way into a $6 million deal at Shanghai SIPG [1], which will help alleviate his financial woes.
The Italians were right all along.
Eriksson is il perdente di successo—"the successful loser."
[1] Formerly known as Shanghai East Asia; recently taken over by the Shanghai International Port Group, a company with $901 million cash on hand.
