SVEN-GORAN ERIKSSON’S interview with Sky News didn’t quite go to plan on Tuesday morning – after Lembit Opik kept interrupting.
The Swedish manager, 73, was speaking to Sky News about his time as England boss between 2000 and 2006 ahead of this summer’s European Championship.
But as the ex-Three Lions chief spoke, he became the latest victim of the Zoom era.
As he attempted to speak, Opik’s face popped up on the big screen with the former politician attempting to call him.
A sheepish Sven quickly hung up in a bid to keep his interview going.
But no more than a second later, a stubborn Opik burst onto the screen again as he tried to get through to the Swede for a second time.
Opik was a former member of the Liberal Democrats, even unsuccessfully standing to run as president of the party in 2004 and 2008.
But he was arguably as famous for his life outside of politics as in it.
Opik famously dated weather presenter Sian Lloyd and one half of pop group The Cheeky Girls, Gabriela Irimia – then 18 years his junior.
He also appeared on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here in 2010 but was the third person to be voted out, as Stacey Solomon won.
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Eriksson, meanwhile, also spoke to talkSPORT on Tuesday morning – enduring an awkward chat with Darren Bent.
The Swede left Bent at home for the 2006 World Cup, instead taking a teenage Theo Walcott.
When asked about the decision, Eriksson revealed: “Well I couldn’t find anyone better.
“Then I thought why not take him with his speed, but also when you pick number 23 he will probably not win the World Cup for you.
“I thought, for the future, he will be very good and it was a pity he couldn’t play and depended a lot that Rooney got sent off and we played an hour with ten against 11 against Portugal in the quarter-final.
“It was not time to change anything at that time.
“We can discuss that for a long time. I thought it was a good idea and I had a lot of talks about it and decided to take him.
“The media were very positive about it, but when he didn’t play they were very negative about it.
“We did it. If it was right or wrong, who knows. Whatever I had done there, it wouldn’t have changed the result in the World Cup.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
