ENGLAND’S World Cup preparations will be overshadowed by distracting legal arguments after Sven-Göran Eriksson launched a High Court action yesterday against the News of the World for its damaging “fake sheikh” exposé.
The England head coach might have wanted to have drawn a line under the embarrassing affair after securing the support — albeit muted — of his employers at the Football Association through to this summer’s tournament in Germany, but the Swede has chosen to fight instead, completing a hat-trick of legal actions surrounding the national team at the most critical time.
His lawyers issued legal proceedings on the basis of “breach of confidence” after the Sunday newspaper published details of conversations between Eriksson and Mazher Mahmood, an undercover reporter posing as a rich Arab in Dubai.
The series of articles showed Eriksson offering indiscreet remarks to strangers about England players, including Michael Owen and Rio Ferdinand, and appearing to be willing to quit his job after the World Cup and join Aston Villa as manager after a [fictional] takeover.
Eriksson’s lawyers, also acting on behalf of Athole Still, the Swede’s agent, and Richard Des Voeux, Still’s lawyer, described the articles as “a gross invasion of privacy” and a “highly sophisticated deception”. “The discussions, which our clients were expressly asked to keep confidential, were reported out of context in a distorted and sensationalised manner so as to provide a spurious pretext for the headlines which appeared,” a statement said.
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The England manager’s legal team requested copies of the tapes of the conversations but were refused by the newspaper, which along with The Times is owned by News International. “Our clients’ position is that stories of this sort, and the distortion of what was said during confidential discussions in order to create the bogus appearance of some legitimate public interest, must be remedied,” the statement added.
The News of the World said that it stood by its story “100 per cent” and would defend it in court. A spokeswoman said: “Our investigation uncovered facts about Sven-Göran Eriksson which we believe fans and players had a right to know.”
If Eriksson’s motivation for suing was to stop the newspaper publishing further damaging revelations this weekend, it has not worked as more stories are planned for tomorrow. It is also debatable that he would succeed in his action, particularly given his track record for secret meetings with prospective employers, including Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea owner, while he has been under contract at the FA.
Yesterday, the FA declined to comment on the writ but, behind the scenes, officials are unlikely to be pleased that the matter will now drag on for months — probably beyond Eriksson’s tenure.
The manager’s lawsuit means that the England team will be overshadowed by three separate court actions as they try to focus on winning the World Cup. The News of the World is also being sued by David Beckham, the England captain, for a story that questioned the validity of his marriage, and Wayne Rooney, the England striker and the country’s best hope of success in Germany, is embroiled in a fight with The Sun, also a News International paper, over its front-page allegation that he hit his girlfriend, Coleen McLoughlin, in a nightclub.
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Rooney’s case is scheduled to be heard in May — shortly before England leave for the World Cup finals — and is likely to involve the testimony of Ferdinand, his England and Manchester United team-mate who was also at the nightclub.
“It is just before the World Cup and there is a hat-trick of litigations hanging over the England team,” one industry source said. “It is absolutely incredible.”
While the FA will support an individual’s right to defend his reputation through the courts, Eriksson’s paymasters cannot have wished for this outcome when their £4.5 million-a-year head coach should be fully focused on the World Cup and a handful of friendlies before the tournament.
This week, Eriksson admitted that he deserves the sack if England fail to get to the semi-finals. Now, winning the World Cup is unlikely to be enough to keep him in the job.