Quotes from Sven-Goran Eriksson

When you go to a World Cup, the whole nation should be behind the team - and then the team have to play their part, too.

Premier League is one thing. World Cup is totally different.

I think, that it's sort of a dream, for many coaches to have a long contract with African countries. The problem in Africa, they do the qualifiers with some coaches, and when the World Cup comes, they change to have bigger names. And then, they recruit a coach for two, three months and when the World Cup finish, they send him back.

The World Cup is the biggest party in football and it's a party for the world, it's incredible. It goes for a month and there is a huge amount of interest. It's the greatest thing you can do and it's beautiful.

My worst moment was in 2006, in Germany, without any doubt! The defeat in the knockout phase of the World Cup 2006 against Portugal.

You know if you go far in the World Cup you are away for almost two months and I think it's against human nature, not to have families there.

Many clubs use sports psychologists today. But you have to work with a mental coach for months. You can't just start when you are in the World Cup.

England has always been famous for great goalkeepers, before I came. We had good goalkeepers, but we didn't have the big world-class 'keeper, maybe.

To leave a job with a bad result is, I think, the worst thing in life to do. They will always remember you as a loser.

The pressure on the English national team has always been very big at all the big tournaments.

Sir Alex Ferguson must be very high up on the list of greatest managers ever. Then there is Fabio Capello, and people forget how much Giovanni Trapattoni achieved at Inter and especially Juventus.

Italian footballers can take a coffee and sit for two hours talking, laughing.

If Rooney had been Italian, he would have been loved like Francesco Totti was at Roma.

Sometimes I thought that maybe it would have been better to stay in Italy, to stay at Lazio.

When I was in Italy in the 90s, early 2000s, everybody wanted to go to Italy, all the players.

You don't criticise Totti in Italy. There might have been reasons to, sometimes, but you don't touch him.

From 1997 I was at Lazio for three and a half years and they were lucky times - a beautiful time. The chairman did almost everything I asked. We won seven trophies and were excellent.

By April 1998, the fortunes of Lazio were on the rise as they won their first trophy in 24 years. Meanwhile, my salary of around £400,000 basically tripled overnight when TV companies started paying for rights to broadcast games.

It was fantastic for me to see the cheering and clapping and it showed maybe not all of them want me out of a job!

Whichever country you are, if you lose games you are criticised. It's only when it's England it's like a new world war.

I loved managing England more than anything but there were times during those five years when I thought, 'Why did I leave Italy?' because you are criticised so much.

Italian football in the eighties and nineties was the most beautiful league in the world. The hardest, most beautiful of all.

Probably I would have got more money if I'd stayed in Italy. It was said that I took England for the money. Absolutely not. I took it because it's the biggest football job in the world, the finest job you can have. I enjoyed it every day.

After three years with Roma, I spent two seasons at Fiorentina. I could have stayed there for longer, but they only had ambitions to be in the middle of the table - not to win anything. Their ambition was to not go down.