FA tried to bribe me, says Alam

Faria Alam was offered "a huge pay-off" by the Football Association if she would lie about her affair with the England coach, Sven Goran Eriksson, the former secretary claims today.

Bosses at the FA tried to "bribe and blackmail" Ms Alam into denying the relationship, she claims in The Mail on Sunday and the News of the World. The 38-year-old who resigned on Thursday is reported to have been paid half a million pounds for her story, in which she describes Mr Eriksson as "a master of love".

But Colin Gibson, who resigned as director of communications at the FA last week, was "an utter bastard". And Mark Palios, who was briefly her lover and quit as chief executive last week, "demanded self-preservation and self-advancement at the expense of the truth". The revelations will put most pressure on David Davies, acting chief executive, named by Ms Alam as among those who participated in the FA's "scandalous" behaviour.