I asked what was Sven’s weakness. It’s women, his agent said. We had been warned
In exclusive extracts from his new book, ex-FA and Arsenal supremo David Dein reveals the truth about Eriksson’s relationships, betrayal of England for Chelsea and X-rated row with Fergie
AS vice-chairman of the FA, David Dein played a crucial role in Sven-Goran Eriksson’s shock appointment as the first foreign England manager in 2001. Early discussions with the Swede’s agent set the tone for his reign…
WOMEN,’ replied Athole Still, simply. Now that was a reply I wasn’t expecting. I’d just asked the charismatic agent whether his esteemed client had any weaknesses. Athole’s one of the good guys. I had no idea he was an opera singer. I was just as surprised at his information on the FA’s No1 target as England manager.
Women! ‘Okay,’ I said to Athole. ‘We can live with that, I guess!’
Sven certainly lived up to the reputation over the next five years.
I LOVE times like this when you have to be decisive. It’s the national team here, so who’s going to be the best person to take the country forward?
For me, there was only one man. Sven-Goran Eriksson.
He eventually resigned from his job with Lazio on January 9, 2001, and soon arrived in London. ‘Come to a game as my guest at Highbury, Sven,’ I told him. ‘You’ll enjoy it.’ And I noticed he did!
When Sven came into the boardroom, I was standing with my wife Barbara and one of her attractive friends, Sarah, who happened to be divorced.
Sven was quick out of the box and immediately asked Sarah what she did for a living. ‘I design lampshades,’ she said. Sven answered with a smile: ‘I need some lampshades!’
I said: ‘Sven, you’re living at the Royal Lancaster hotel!’ Athole was right in tipping me off!
AFTER England’s 5-1 win against Germany in Munich the following September, Sven was public hero No1, even more so after David Beckham’s amazing free-kick against Greece at Old Trafford that took England to the 2002 World Cup.
After a difficult period, everything on the inside with England was measured and positive.
External distractions, though, were not so controllable. The Ulrika Jonsson story broke before we went to the World Cup in Japan.
Sven was involved with the Swedish TV presenter, and her au pair duly came out with some revelations about it. His relationship with Nancy Dell’Olio became front-page news, particularly when she showed up at a cocktail party at 10 Downing Street in a fire-engine-red catsuit. She palled out with Barbara and David Davies’s wife Susan and the three of them really got on well.
Sven took all these headlines in his stride. When things started getting lively in his private life, he just laughed at the reaction.
When a door closed on one drama with England, another opened. I knew how bothered the FA were when reading of Sven’s dalliance with Chelsea a couple of months later. They got a tip-off that The Sun was about to run a story that Sven met Chelsea’s chief executive Peter Kenyon to discuss becoming their manager. Seriously? Where’s the loyalty? I went to Sven’s house in Regent’s Park, north London, to find sheer pandemonium outside with reporters and TV crews; you could hardly move.
We’d had a challenging Friday evening and Saturday morning, as Sven had his phone turned off until mid-morning. When reached at last he had advised people at the FA he was going to leave for Chelsea. Sven seemed completely unperturbed by all the fuss. I sort of admired how he could rise above all the chaos — chaos he had caused.
Sven just told us he was flattered by Chelsea offering him a lot of money. We worked on him and managed to convince him that he still had plenty of work to do with England. Sven committed to stay.
THE NEWS OF THE WORLD had chapter and verse on Sven’s relationship with Faria Alam, David
Davies’s PA. It wasn’t a secret that Sven was attracted to her. Every time I went to to see David, Sven was always hanging around in his office. I didn’t need to be Poirot to detect what was going on.
Faria told the FA that nothing was going on and an official statement on the Monday afternoon rubbished
the story. David contacted Sven, who also said: ‘It’s nonsense.’
Sven felt his private life was his business and I had some sympathy, but this was directly impacting on the FA.
Anyway, it seemed to go quiet but my peace was disturbed on July 25 by the News of the World headline: ‘I bedded Sven and his boss.’ I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Faria had also slept with Mark Palios. It was such a mess. Sven was typically unperturbed as we headed to the pre-season Amsterdam tournament to watch Arsenal.
I found Sven and got him up to my room. ‘Sven, this is serious, I’ve got to ask you straight, are you having an affair with the FA secretary?’
Sven’s eyes rolled. ‘No, but I’d like to.’
THE only time I ever saw Sven annoyed was when Sir Alex Ferguson called him at our World Cup base in 2006.
Fergie was furious that Wayne Rooney was going to play at the World Cup, with England gambling on his recovery from a broken metatarsal.
‘You’re finished,’ he screamed. Sven lost it. ‘F**k off,’ he said. ‘Alex, I will pick Rooney. Have a nice holiday. Ciao, bye.’
Overall, I believe Sven was a success. Of course, he wasn’t perfect. He was flawed — as we found out.