Eriksson misled FA in Alam case

Sven Goran Eriksson, the England coach, misled the Football Association during the Faria Alam scandal, an Employment Tribunal has ruled, but it also branded her claim of sexual harassment against David Davies as "a figment of her fertile imagination."

When questioned by the FA's executive director, Davies, Eriksson initially denied having an affair with former FA secretary Alam.

Alam lost her case against the FA for sexual harassment, unfair dismissal and breach of contract last September. It is only now that the reasoning behind the tribunal's verdict has been revealed.

One section of the report, paragraph 7.22, concerns comments made by Eriksson. "During the course of the interview, Mr Eriksson said to Mr Norbury [the FA-appointed QC initially investigating the Eriksson-Alam affair] that he had not been specific about his answer to David Davies, but that he had used the word 'nonsense' when the allegation was put to him by Mr Davies and that he told Mr Davies that 'his private life was his private life'."

The report continued: "We are satisfied that the comment from Mr Eriksson supports Mr Davies' account that, when he first raised with Mr Eriksson the allegation about an affair, his firm view at the end of the conversation was that Mr Eriksson was denying the affair."