James Lawton: Lotharios in dock

Understandably enough, there has been some disquiet over the revelation that two of the most influential men in our national game, the England coach, Sven Goran Eriksson, and his boss, the Football Association chief executive Mark Palios, have been plundering the sexual favours of a junior member of the FA staff.

Understandably enough, there has been some disquiet over the revelation that two of the most influential men in our national game, the England coach, Sven Goran Eriksson, and his boss, the Football Association chief executive Mark Palios, have been plundering the sexual favours of a junior member of the FA staff.

It's a grisly picture, certainly, but it shouldn't deflect us from the fact that what Eriksson and Palios do in their private lives is a matter entirely for their own judgement, this side of the law.

Where no amount of public disdain can be excessive is in reaction to what happened on the field during the recent European Championship.

Eriksson's preparation, and execution during the tournament, was pitifully inadequate. Palios's assertion that even defeat by mediocre Croatia would not have threatened Eriksson's position - at a time when Otto Rehhagel, on a fraction of Eriksson's salary, was guiding the Greeks to an astonishing triumph - was equally outrageous.

Whatever we think of their predatory sexual behaviour, we should remember to judge them not as ageing Lotharios but football men. If we do that, the verdict is surely crushing enough.