Sven-Goran Eriksson persuaded Roman Abramovich to buy Chelsea instead of Spurs – after mistakenly thinking the billionaire was a chauffeur at their first meeting.
The Swede told the billionaire he had more chance of succeeding at the Blues as he would only have to “change half the team”.
But Eriksson nearly blew his chances of being a confidant of Roman Abramovich after mistaking him for a driver in 2003 – months before he took over Chelsea.
Recalling the tale, Eriksson told The Times: “We met at Les Ambassadeurs [a casino and club in London].
“There were three men standing there. One is properly dressed, the other is so-so and the third, I thought he was the driver. Of course that was Roman.
“He wanted to buy a club in Moscow so we went to Moscow for three days. We saw all the clubs and I said buy Dinamo. They had the best facilities.
“I went on holiday and his right-hand man phoned. Roman changed his mind. He wants to buy a club in London.
“Tottenham or Chelsea? I said, ‘What does he want to do?’ He said he wants to win. I said, ‘So buy Chelsea. You have to change half the team. Tottenham you have to change the whole team.’”
Eriksson went on to become close friends with Abramovich – and their meetings at the Russian’s apartment to drink tea and discuss football almost led to the Swede taking over as Dinamo manager.
In the wide-ranging interview, Eriksson also revealed he told Sir Alex Ferguson to “f*** off” after the former United boss threatened to kill him over his use of Wayne Rooney at the 2006 World Cup.
Rooney had suffered a broken foot shortly before the tournament, with Eriksson still rushing him in to his 23-man squad as he looked to end 40 years of hurt.
Eriksson recalled: “[Ferguson] 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
