World Cup 2018: Lad shaves hair to look like ex-England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson in incredible throwback story
With all his classmates copying David Beckham's haircut for the 2002 World Cup, 10-year-old Tom Sylvester decided to be different
MANAGERS are often the last person children attempt to copy when they’ve caught the World Cup buzz.
But for ten-year-old Tom Sylvester back in 2002, there was no person he wanted to be other than ex-England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson.
While all his classmates were copying ‘s famous Mohawk hairstyle for the 2002 World Cup, Sylvester was keen on being different.
He shocked his mates one morning ahead of the Three Lions’ clash against Nigeria by shaving the top of his head to look like the former Manchester City boss.
In a video that has since went viral, Sylvester said of his choice: “There are quite a lot of people in the school who dress up as David Beckham.
“And I thought that Sven would be different.
“When I first had it done, it was almost bald and I thought everyone would laugh at me, but they haven’t, they’ve started liking it.”
Two years ago, Twitter user Matthew Durrant made it his mission to track down Sylvester, and to his amazement, he did.
The duo conversed through social media, with Sylvester even sending over newspaper clippings of his incredible story.
Hopefully it won’t be too long until we see kids across the country in waistcoats pretending to be the next Gareth Southgate.
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The incredible thread started with:
He then posted a grab from Facebook showing that he had sent a message to him saying: “Hi mate – are you the lad who shaved his head to be like Sven Goran in 2002? No worries if not x”
And Tom Sylvester replied: “Hi mate Yh I am”.