'Fergie forbade me to pick Rooney for World Cup' - Eriksson
- Published
Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson says Sir Alex Ferguson called him persistently to forbid him from taking Wayne Rooney to the World Cup in 2006.
Rooney fractured a metatarsal bone in his foot six weeks before the opening game of the tournament but Eriksson still selected him and he featured in four of England's five games.
"Ferguson called me many times, mainly at seven o'clock in the morning," Eriksson told BBC Scotland's Sacked in the Morning podcast.
"He did not ask me not to take Rooney - he demanded it. It was forbidden and he saw it as a crime to take Rooney to the World Cup."
Eriksson said he had huge respect for Ferguson and generally got along well with the then United boss but says selecting Rooney was his only option.
"The whole nation expected Rooney to go," he said. "If I had not picked him, I would have been externally criticised.
"I understood Ferguson's point, he was Mr Manchester United. But as the national team manager, I had to do my job."