Now football boss tries to gag Press over his sex messages
A mARRIED football star has threatened legal action to gag the Press over secret sex messages.
The Premier League boss threatened a tabloid newspaper with an injunction after learning the sordid messages were about to be revealed.
He had previously won a privacy injunction banning newspapers from revealing allegations of an earlier affair, and is subjected to taunts and chants by fans on the terraces.
His latest legal threat was made just days after the UK Supreme court heard claims that the power of injunctions had been seriously undermined by a row over a different celebrity’s attempt to gag the Press reporting an extra-marital ‘threesome’.
The married man won a media blackout ruling in England and Wales but was then named in Scotland and around the world by newspapers, magazines and websites not bound by the legal order.
In the latest gag case, the Premier League boss threatened an injunction against the Sun over an article detailing a series of sexually explicit WhatsApp messages he was alleged to have sent to a divorcée.
He asked the woman to pose in heels, stockings and ‘no knickers’ if his team won a difficult away game, it was reported. He
‘I can play both roles in the bedroom’
told her: ‘my situation is simple. I’m married... also in the public eye which can be problematic as you can imagine.
‘The relationship is stable. Bit loveless. Bit sexless.’
The pair were said to have exchanged messages for more than a month and discussed meeting in a restaurant and a hotel. In one message, he wrote: ‘I’m churning out a boring footie session for my boys.
‘Did cross my mind if sex is going to be a part of this first date scenario. A famous madame died yesterday and her advice to women was never have sex on the first date. Stupid cow. I’m pleased she’s gone.’
Another message read: ‘All options include a hotel room. not being presumptuous just need somewhere safe to have a first kiss if needed.’
The man was said to have told the woman, an accountant and mother of two who split from her husband last year, to delete his messages.
He also told her to say she was his tax lawyer if they were seen out together. In one message he appeared to mimic the language of football punditry as he told her: ‘I can play both roles in the bedroom. naturally dominant, of course, but can switch seamlessly to a more giving role.’
The woman admitted sharing texts with the football boss in December last year but refused to say if they were in a relationship, the Sun reported.
She said: ‘I can’t see any good of anything that can come out of this. So I am not keen on talking about this.
‘my view is I’m not going to look good. I will look like a nasty little ***** and I don’t want that.’
media lawyer mark Stephens said the latest injunction threat showed the rich and famous were still prepared to use the courts to gag the Press, despite the worldwide publicity over the ‘threesome’ injunction.
mr Stephens, of legal firm Howard Kennedy, said: ‘Seeking this kind of privacy injunction can rebound if the very attempt causes a reaction that more people want to know.
‘The British public don’t like to be nannied by being told what they can or cannot know.
‘But it is not the death of the injunction. A domestic celebrity like a daytime television star can get a privacy injunction and it will still be effective.
‘The difficulty lies in the cases of stars who are global brands, as that will require a retinue of lawyers to act for them.’
In the ‘threesome’ case, reported in the mail, judges at the Supreme court said they would make a ruling later this year on whether the man could be named.