Chris Wright

Author and journalist. Author, No More Worlds To Conquer (HarperCollins); Rum & Coal (Calvi); Millionaires' Factory (Allen & Unwin). Founder, Resonate Global

[Chris Wright @CWrightmedia]

@JamesPearceLFC Holy shit, that's a bench

[James Pearce @JamesPearceLFC]

It’s looking good

[Chris Wright @CWrightmedia]

This is beautiful

[Kevin McLaughlin @K7_CMU]

Thanks to the entire BSC Young Boys support at Celtic Park tonight who gave my wee fella Joshua his very own, unforgettable and special moment 👏 ☘️

Safe journey home to you all and what a great support 🇨🇭 @BSC_YB

[Chris Wright @CWrightmedia]

@OptaAnalyst @alitweedale Hard to make that argument. Liverpool take less than a second longer and they're top of the league

[Henry Winter @henrywinter]

I wrote this last week on my daily newsletter on substack and it's quite long but it just feels right to run it again here. RIP Sven.

There is a deeply poignant moment in Sven-Goran Eriksson’s farewell film, one of many poignant moments, when he urged viewers, and himself, to “remember the good times”. His voice is laid over footage of swimming with his delighted grandchildren and David Beckham’s arcing free-kick against Greece at Old Trafford. Good times.

He lived a life did dear old Sven. And as it drew to an untimely close the 76-year-old made a remarkable film with his children Lina and Johan chronicling the onset and grip of cancer and also reflecting on the many joys of his life, family, friends and football.

To visit Sven at his beautiful lake-side retreat in Sunne, Sweden, was always to appreciate the kindly, measured nature of this charming man. “Beer? Hot-dog?” is how he greeted travel-weary visitors. To be asked to contribute to Sven’s film released on Amazon Prime last Friday was an honour. Remember the good times.

And remember the lessons. We learned about dignity in defeat from Sven. He went into the Swiss referee Urs Meier’s room after England were controversially knocked out of Euro 2004 and Meier had ruled out a legitimate-looking Sol Campbell goal. “Well done,” Sven said to Meier, shaking his hand, without a hint of rancour or mockery. Sven was a civilised man. While many of us were lashing out in frustration at another tournament failure, and some were going after Meier so much that he had to move house, Sven was acting with decorum, even support for the referee.

Remember to care for players. Sven showed real compassion for a fretful Darius Vassell who wanted to remain in Portugal after Euro 2004 because he feared the media ambush on his return after missing his penalty. When England went out of the 2006 World Cup, Sven didn’t think of himself, of his frustration, but of others. He beseeched us England reporters “don’t kill” Wayne Rooney for his red card. Rooney was so important to England’s future, Eriksson emphasised. Danny Murphy relayed a story on talkSPORT last week about requesting permission to leave camp because he and his then wife were trying for a child via IVF and the moment had arrived. Sven immediately gave Murphy his blessing and good luck wishes. “Just be back for breakfast at 10am tomorrow,” Sven told Murphy. It’s why his players loved him. He cared.

Remember to enjoy life. And Sven did. So many memories. Sven relaxing over a whisky in the piano bar at the wonderful Albatross in Cascais, near Lisbon, at 2004. Sven relaxing on the edge of the dance-floor at Tavern On The Green in Central Park, New York. Sven was admiring the dancing, moving only to raise his empty glass for topping up with white wine. “I have a good life, maybe too good, I have to pay for it,” Sven reflected in his film.

Before appointing Sven, the FA International Committee’s David Dein asked Eriksson’s agent, the charismatic Athole Still, whether his client had any weaknesses. Still, as great a lover of life as Sven, replied swiftly and honestly, “Women”. Within a week of arriving in London, Eriksson was in the boardroom at Dein’s Highbury and met a divorcee friend of Dein’s wife, Barbara. Sven zeroed in on her, and on hearing that she designed lampshades, immediately responded “I need some lampshades!” Dein quietly pointed out to Sven, that no he didn’t need any help with lampshades as he was living in a hotel. But that was Sven. Utterly charming, making women feel they were the only person in the world, let alone the room. He’d talk poetry, art, even lampshades to woo them.

I once had lunch with Sven at Skylon in the Festival Hall, London, and the interview was going brilliantly, I had Sven’s full attention until the table service changed for some reason from waiter to waitress. Sven’s answers became shorter and more distracted. I mentioned this to Sven once and he smiled that ready smile of his, perhaps stirring more memories of good times.

Sven couldn’t understand prurient English interest in his private life. He was unmarried, so he found all the talk of “affairs” with single women bizarre. He laughed at the English Viz-style approach to sex, especially when Nuts magazine delivered a water-bed to Soho Square, the FA HQ at the time.

Remember grace under pressure, and humour. “You’ll have to call and yell at someone else,” Sven said to an enraged Sir Alex Ferguson over the Manchester United manager’s annoyance that Sven was taking Rooney, still recuperating from a broken metatarsal, to the 2006 World Cup. Sven had huge respect for Ferguson but also did a marvellous impersonation of taking an ear-bashing call from Ferguson and holding the phone away from his ear.

Sven was the embodiment of wry composure in press conferences called to discuss the latest match but often more focused on his latest escapade. He brushed aside all the headlines about him and Ulrika, him and Faria, him and Nancy. He let them all down in varying ways, yet there are Faria and Nancy in the film, enthusing about Sven.

Sven was very human. He fell for beautiful, charismatic women, and fell for fake sheikhs and too-good-to-be-true owners. There was a naivety to Sven, almost an overly trusting nature, who was lured into a sting about a new owner of Aston Villa wanting him as manager, and then falling for a conman owner of Notts County with connections to North Korea. Sven, employed as Notts director of football, duly flew to Pyongyang seeking investment. “It looks like a stupid story and maybe it was stupid but I really believed in it,” Sven said in the film.

Remember he was generous. With Notts facing bankruptcy, Sven waived the £2.5m he was owed. Remember he was working at such a level – with due respect to the world’s oldest professional football club - because he’d been let down by a financial adviser. It took a lot to get Eriksson angry but he claimed to have been duped by this financial character so badly that he feared losing his beloved lakeside home in Sunne, Sweden.

Sven was in China by then, working for Guangzhou R&F, in lucrative exile as he fought to revive his finances. He messaged me, wanting to give his version of events. I was on holiday on the Norfolk coast, the signal was poor, to the Broads let alone abroad, and I had to stand on a tree stump for better reception. The line kept breaking yet Sven was remarkably patient. He spoke openly and precisely about his losses. Typical of Sven, he engaged in some polite chit-chat before the meat of the interview, and at the end apologised for interrupting my holiday. I didn’t care. “Sven’s anger over lost £10m” made quite a splash. He eventually got an apology from the financial advisor. But little financial recompense.

Remember the loyalty. Beckham, Rooney, Roberto Mancini and Kasper Schmeichel are all in his film, talking of their love and respect for Sven.

So how good a coach was he for England? When appointed, Sven was reigning Serie A Coach of the Year ahead of Giovanni Trapattoni, Marcello Lippi, Carlo Ancelotti and Fabio Capello. He lost one of 24 qualifiers, took England from 17th in the world rankings to fourth, and reached three quarter-finals. Gareth Southgate’s record is markedly superior. Sven always wanted Southgate to do well because he wanted England to do well but he did point out that he looked a better coach with each passing year of hurt.

Yet Sven should have done better with the squad he had. He was fortunate to inherit some magnificent young players coming through, Ashley Cole (20), Steven Gerrard (21), Michael Owen (21) and Rio Ferdinand (22), eventually a teenaged Rooney. He had an issue in goal with David Seaman coming to the end of his international career, and had to cope with that hiatus before Joe Hart pushed through. But the talent was immense. Sven under-achieved.

But Sven-Goran Eriksson taught us plenty, not least to seize every moment in life. As he said in the film, “Whoever it is that said ‘life is too short’ is right.” Yet Sven filled his life with so much. Remember the good times. RIP Sven.

[Financial Times @FT]

Singapore is still guided by founding premier Lee Kuan Yew's remarks about being a small but hazardous target, pushing military spending per capita to the world's third-highest. https://t.co/oV9R6OI0rI

[Chris Wright @CWrightmedia]

@Bellyda38674922 @LiamThorpECHO Batley Grammar is in West Yorkshire. What does that have to do with Liverpool or Liverpudlians?

[Chris Wright @CWrightmedia]

@RealEmirHan Have 10 instead!
Men: Ralph Fiennes, Edward Norton, Ian McKellen, Samuel L Jackson, Stanley Tucci
Women: Amy Adams, Glenn Close, Angela Bassett, Annette Benning, Sigourney Weaver

[Chris Wright @CWrightmedia]

@bbctms He'll finish in second place. It's really not all that far away

[Chris Wright @CWrightmedia]

@JamesPearceLFC My list would reflect those who stepped up way beyond what we expected of them. So Quansah has to be there, Kelleher, Bradley and even Gomez. Took their opportunities.
Mac Allister
VvD
Gomez
Quansah
Kelleher
Salah
Bradley
Robby
Elliott
Endo
Trent
Diaz
Jota
Szobo
Alisson

[Chris Wright @CWrightmedia]

@TRobinsonNewEra How many idiots are going to show this video from 2019 and pretend it's the Singapore Airlines flight? Wrong airline, wrong country, wrong year, wrong plane

[Chris Wright @CWrightmedia]

@upuknews1 This is NOT from the Singapore Airlines flight. It is from 2019. Take your post down.

[Chris Wright @CWrightmedia]

@adarwis Take this post down now. That video is not from SQ321

[Chris Wright @CWrightmedia]

@TheAthleticFC @adjones_journo @MarkCarey93 Olise or Kudus.

[1-0 to the Arsenal @1NilArsenal]

Message to Man City. Tell your lawyers to stop delaying the 115 charges. Your legacy and respect as a club are tainted. You won 4 titles in 5 years: recently a treble. If punters think you cheated and the club is hiding, while your players act entitled, then football is broken.

[James Shepard @jumpjim]

Sad to see that Captain Eric Moody has passed away aged 84.

Capt. Moody was in charge of BA9 from Kuala Lumpur to Perth on June 24th, 1982, that accidentally flew through a volcanic ash cloud leading to all 4 engines on the 747 flaming out.

His passenger PA he did at the time has gone down in the annals of history…

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them under control. I trust you are not in too much distress.”

RIP Eric.

[Luiza Jarovsky, PhD @LuizaJarovsky]

🚨Currently, 17 papers on @SSRN contain the phrase "as of my last knowledge update," and most of them are not about how AI works. My guess is that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Have we destroyed research?

[Chris Wright @CWrightmedia]

@RealEmirHan Tom Hollander as a tough guy in The Night Manager
Also Hugh Laurie as a villain in the same series

[Chris Wright @CWrightmedia]

@prchovanec I recall you putting up a great thread about a visit to the Solomon Islands. Do you recall who helped you get around there? Thanks

[Chris Wright @CWrightmedia]

@prchovanec This bunch seem to be able to get people in https://t.co/fypkfRrmIi It requires an American passport but no other restrictions I can see