England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has brushed aside media calls for him to stand down after the Football Association (FA) admitted he had an affair with an FA secretary.
Eriksson’s affair led to the 56-year-old Swede splitting with Italian girlfriend Nancy Dell’Olio and led to calls for him to go.
But Eriksson’s agent Athole Still said the coach is adamant he wants to continue.
”He is very committed to the job and is looking very much forward to leading England into the 2006 World Cup qualifying,” Still told the Daily Mirror. ”There is absolutely no question of him leaving his job over this.”
Eriksson always tries to keep his personal life private and has warned in the past that he would walk out if more revelations were exposed about his tangled love life.
The FA had to do an embarrassing U-turn after initially denying a report last week that alleged an affair between Eriksson and Alam, who is secretary to the organisation’s executive director, David Davies.
But the FA backtracked on Sunday and admitted not only did Alam have an affair with Eriksson but also with chief executive Mark Palios.
It left several FA councillors questioning why Eriksson allowed the FA to put out a denial statement in the first place.
However, although some FA councillors might be getting restless over Eriksson’s love life they are unlikely to take any action with an £8-million compensation clause in his contract.
Some newspapers suggested Middlebrough manager Steve McLaren would be asked to take over England’s World Cup campaign if Eriksson was asked to leave. — Sapa-AFP