Eriksson secure despite kiss-and-tell

Sven Goran Eriksson's future as England manager appeared to be secure last night after a "kiss and tell" with his former lover left little to the imagination but provided no ammunition for the Football Association to sack him.

Sven Goran Eriksson's future as England manager appeared to be secure last night after a "kiss and tell" with his former lover left little to the imagination but provided no ammunition for the Football Association to sack him.

After selling her story for a reported £500,000, Faria Alam said in interviews with The Mail on Sunday and News of the World that she was still in love with the Swedish manager, wanted him back and was prepared to marry him.

She also attacked the FA for its attempt to sacrifice Mr Eriksson in a failed attempt to save its chief executive, Mark Palios, who was later forced to resign over his affair with Ms Alam, a secretary at the FA.

She said she was "shocked and disgusted" by the former FA communications director Colin Gibson's proposal that if the News of the World left Mr Palios out of its reporting she would have to tell them all about Mr Eriksson.

Ms Alam described the FA headquarters in London's Soho Square as a testosterone- fuelled hotbed of sexual intrigue where executives with clashing egos fought for the attention of the prettiest female staff.

She recalled how at the FA Christmas dinner she sat at a table for 10 people with Mr Eriksson on her left and Mr Palios on her right. Mr Eriksson was quick to signal his intentions by rubbing his leg against hers at the table, she said. At the time, and unknown to Mr Eriksson, she was beginning her affair with Mr Palios.

Ms Alam said she hoped that an idyllic weekend in Mr Eriksson's rural Swedish home would be the start of something permanent, but then came a newspaper story saying Mr Eriksson was having an affair with an FA secretary.

An FA non-executive director, Rupert Lowe, said yesterday that Mr Eriksson's future was secured during the emergency board meeting last Thursday and it was time for the FA to consider a much wider overhaul of its procedures.