REVEALED: Manchester City players ‘wanted to go on strike’ before their historic 8-1 defeat to Middlesbrough in 2008… as Sven-Goran Eriksson claims ex-owner Thaksin Shinawatra sacked him after a karaoke night in Thailand
- City players wanted to strike before their game against Middlesbrough in 2008
- Sven-Goran Eriksson told them to play the game which ended in an 8-1 loss
- Eriksson also revealed how Thaksin Shinawatra fired him while on tour in Thailand
Sven-Goran Eriksson has revealed how Manchester City players went on strike in protest against the club’s then owner Thaksin Shinawatra before their historic 8-1 defeat to Middlesbrough in 2008.
Richard Dunne – who was Manchester City captain at the time – approached Eriksson earlier this week and said the players wanted to make a statement against Thaksin’s ruthless nature and approach to the club.
Eriksson told them to play the match and blamed the relationship between Sinawatra and the players for the tough result – which would eventually cost him his job.
Speaking about Paramount+’s new documentary Fever Pitch, Eriksson said: “Two days earlier, Dunne – the captain – came into my office and said we will not play that game as a protest against Shinawatra. I said you know we have to go and we have to play.’
Manchester City lost that game 8-1 and Eriksson said it was primarily because ‘no one wanted to play’.
Sven-Goran Eriksson has revealed how Richard Dunne approached him before Manchester City’s game with Middlesbrough in 2008
Eriksson – who told them to play – blamed the relationship between Sinawatra and the players for the result. He said their loss was due to the players not wanting to be there
Eriksson said it was ‘heartbreaking’ to hear fans chant his name after their 8-1 defeat
He told the docu-series, “We played horrible football because nobody wanted to play that game. We lost 8-1 and the players still signed Sven-Goran Eriksson. That was heartbreaking.’
Asked about the game, Shinawatra – former Prime Minister of Thailand and owner of Manchester City – said: “I heard it was 8-1 and that was my last straw, broken.”
He also told how Sinawatra took him and the Manchester City coaching staff to a karaoke bar in Thailand before firing him for a “gut feeling”.
Shinawatra took the Manchester City squad on a trip to Thailand and sacked Eriksson there
The former England coach said: ‘After the season he decided we should go to Thailand. All the players protested as they all went. The last night of that tour, Shinawatra invited the entire staff to a karaoke club.
“During the late hours, he would grab the mic and go to the coach’s table and start drawing if I should stay or if I should go. I could not believe it. I wondered if I was dreaming.
‘The next day he wanted to have breakfast with me before we left. He told me I was going to be fired. I asked why and he said I don’t know.
“I asked him three times and he said, I don’t know. He said it was a feeling in his stomach. That was the second time I was fired in England. That hurts.’
The Premier League coming-of-age story will be available exclusively on Paramount+ from May 7.