On Friday we learned that Eriksson, Still and Des Voeux have begun legal proceedings against the newspaper for breach of confidence. A press release stated that, having travelled to Dubai at the invitation of an apparently genuine company to discuss the possibility of a future sports development consultancy, they became victims of a highly sophisticated deception, resulting in articles which were a gross invasion of privacy and which distorted and sensationalised what was said during confidential discussions in order to provide a pretext for headlines and to create the bogus appearance of some legitimate public interest. The statement from Charles Russell LLP, of Fetter Lane, London, added: “Although we have asked the publishers for copies of the surreptitiously recorded tapes, they have refused to provide them.”
Everything in the law firm’s announcement would seem to acknowledge the existence of tapes and therefore to identify as the focus of contention not the words that were uttered but how they were presented in the News of the World. Whether the revelations were in the public interest is a question a court may have to decide but that they were of interest to a broad swathe of the public is beyond dispute. The doings of whoever is in charge of the national football squad are always regarded as a form of theatrical entertainment in England and Eriksson, with his lurches between trousers-round-the-ankles Whitehall farce and the clandestine shenanigans of an espionage pot-boiler, has been a godsend to the tabloids.
Both carnally and commercially his behaviour has indicated that he might benefit from keeping in mind the opening declaration of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 129: “Th’expense of spirit in a waste of shame is lust in action.”
Apart from the prissy and the prurient, few will find his sex life riveting but lusting after additional monetary rewards when he is already paid film-star wages by the Football Association hints at a level of avarice potentially destructive to himself as well as others. And in relation to that problem his closest counsellors could be expected to show more worldly alertness than has been discernible in the recent episode.
Concerns over the wisdom of the trip to the Middle East should have loomed as soon as the invitation was received. Anybody as prominent as Eriksson is a natural target for dubious propositions and, while only advisers with paranoid tendencies might have wondered instantly about the dangers of media entrapment, basic caution should have demanded some checking on those asking the England manager to accept lavish hospitality. In these days when princes of the desert have, through horse racing, become familiar figures in our society, establishing a few facts about somebody purporting to be financially a big hitter in Dubai surely wouldn’t have been an impossible feat of detection.
Advertisement
Once lured into the charade orchestrated by Mazher Mahmood — whose work as investigations editor of the News of the World has in the past involved impersonating a sheikh — the Eriksson party appear to have left their capacity for circumspection at Heathrow. Whatever the circumstances of the conversations in a restaurant and on a yacht, however many assurances of confidentiality were proffered, it is simply astounding that their deceivers were furnished with such an arsenal of quotes. Those quotes were used to flesh out copy ranging in subject matter from the hypothetical purchase of Aston Villa (embracing the appointment of Eriksson as manager and the recruitment of David Beckham as flagship player) to the reasons for Michael Owen’s arrival at Newcastle United, Wayne Rooney’s family background, doubts about Rio Ferdinand’s dedication to his exceptional talent and speculation on how eager Beckham is to return to the Premiership.
Infinitely the most provocative material dealt with the Aston Villa fantasy. It was profoundly offensive to individuals currently employed at the club and warranted the furious reaction it produced, though I felt a number of angry critics diverted attention from the valid essence of their case when they went as far as insisting Eriksson would be guilty of unforgivable disloyalty if he even contemplated choosing to leave the England job after the World Cup finals. Since anything short of a substantial taste of glory in Germany (reaching the semi-finals may be viewed as inadequate) will see him hounded out of office, isn’t he entitled to consider his future beyond this summer? It’s chauvinist lunacy to conceive of the England managership as such a sacred responsibility that a man must swear totally blinkered allegiance to it until the axe falls.
However, unless the News of the World’s transcribing of tapes is monumentally flawed, Eriksson has, not for the first time, shown himself in a desperately unattractive light. The accuracy of the comments he is alleged to have passed on specific players is not the issue. If he spoke as his newspaper ambushers claim he did, he stands condemned of gross violation of trust. Already, having been so easily sweet-talked into a mortifying predicament, he can hardly resent accusations of greed and gullibility. Of course, there are no grounds for imagining that the nation would have any hesitation about acclaiming a greedy, gullible winner of the World Cup.
Racing’s farewell to a flawed genius
The scale of the alcohol addiction Jerry Bailey had to overcome to achieve lasting greatness as a jockey is succinctly conveyed by the Texan’s own sardonic comment on how he behaved in his boozing days: “The only time drank was when I was alone or with somebody.”
Advertisement
He was 31 when he liberated himself from the bottle, and his career from the limiting and dangerous effects of the“poor judgement” the disarray in his private life spilled over on to the track. That was in 1989 and in the years since then he has provided irresistible evidence that he belongs among the top handful of the most accomplished race-riders ever hoisted into the saddle.
Impressively, he has decided to retire in advance of any signs of serious decline. Less than three months ago he rode Saint Liam to victory in the richest of the Breeders’ Cup races, the Classic, at Belmont Park, lifting his total of Breeders’ Cup triumphs to a record 15. It was his fifth success in the Classic and he has won the even more valuable Dubai World Cup three times. His most famous partner in Dubai was the mighty Cigar, the champion who galloped to 16 wins in a row, all except the first under Bailey. Cigar switched to dirt surfaces too late to contest the American Triple Crown races but other mounts brought the jockey six victories in those events.
Yet, obviously, Bailey — raised in El Paso as the son of a dentist who trained horses on the side — is accorded historic status in US racing for reasons far beyond statistics. The shrewdest judges recognised qualities in his performances they hadn’t seen in such abundance since the prime of Eddie Arcaro in the 1940s and 1950s, and nobody is higher than Arcaro in the American riders’ pantheon. At my request, Bill Nack, the most distinguished contemporary chronicler of the Turf on the other side of the Atlantic, elaborated on the retiring master: “Bailey never seemed to be in a bad position in a race, at least not for long. He had an uncanny ability to anticipate how the traffic was going to move. His peripheral vision was extraordinary, his reflexes were great and his body (5ft 5in, 8st) was tremendously athletic. And, of course, he had the chemistry with horses to make them run to their maximum.
“He looked deeper into a race than anybody else, analysing horses and jockeys, and out there he was always thinking one or two strides ahead of everyone around him. Bailey saw a horse race as Bobby Fischer saw a game of speed-chess — as a series of rapid calculations leading to a foreseeable, logical conclusion.”
For punters, the conclusion was often at the pay window.
Advertisement
Fast learner Walcott
None but the slow or the slow-witted would attempt to deny that scorching pace is an invaluable weapon in football. But it was no surprise to find Arsène Wenger emphasising that speed on the field is effective strictly in proportion to the intelligence applying it. We have all seen players who go nowhere in a blur of velocity. The Arsenal manager was talking about his new recruit, the £12m 16-year-old Theo Walcott, who is credited with covering 100m in 11.5 seconds. “Pace is an asset only when you also understand when to go and where to go,” said Wenger, adding with satisfaction that young Walcott seemed well attuned to those requirements.
The healthy simplicity of the Frenchman’s observations is typically reassuring. We can be confident that English football’s latest prodigy will be made to realise the game must be learnt before it can be conquered.