January 15 - Sheikh-ing Sven

A couple of days ago we bought you the story of the appointment of England’s first foreign manager, the always entertaining Sven Goran Eriksson. Today though, it’s all about the demise of Sven, as it was on this day in 2006 that the News of the World got one of the biggest scoops in years, when their ‘fake sheikh’ claimed another scalp and Eriksson was made to look very, very silly.

Sven’s a trusting soul, as he didn’t think there was any funny business going on as he was flown out to Dubai, put up in the seven-star Burj al-Arab hotel to eat lobster, drink champagne and talk football with his new best mate, a wealthy sheikh. To be fair, we’d have probably gone along with it too, sounds like heaven. Alas, the tabloid press are slippery folk and it was all an elaborate sting operation.

The three-hour cruise on a luxury yacht gave the News of the World plenty of ammunition to go at Sven with. The sheikh had convinced Sven to take over Aston Villa after the 2006 World Cup and bring in David Beckham. Then he set about upsetting the national squads best players, as he called Rio Ferdinand lazy, said Wayne Rooney “comes from a poor family” and that Michael Owen didn’t like life at Newcastle and was only there for the money. The whole outburst was like one of those nights where you get really drunk, tell everyone what you really think of them and then have to spend the whole of the next day on the phone offering grovelling apologies. We’ve all been there Sven, don’t worry.

So, this wasn’t really the best way to build up to the 2006 World Cup. Sven spent the next few days starting legal proceedings and fighting his corner in the press. “It was a kick under the belt” he sobbed, but maintained that it wouldn’t make an impact on the team’s preparation for Germany. Which, to be fair, was probably true, as not even tabloid scandals can mix it with the unwritten metaphysical law that states England must go out on penalties in the quarter-finals.

The ‘fake sheikh’ turned out to be an undercover reporter called Mazher Mahmood, whose previous victims had included Newcastle bosses Freddie Shepherd and Douglas Hall who were caught labelling Geordie woman “dogs” whilst in a brothel in Marbella. John Barnes, Chris Eubank, John Fashanu and George Galloway have also been caught in compromising postions by Mahmood.

Less than two weeks after the article first appeared, it was announced that Sven would indeed be stepping down after the tournament in Germany. He didn’t do too bad out of it though, as his compensation of £6,500 a day cushioned the blow until he got bored of daytime television and took up he post at Manchester City.

We’ll leave you with Irish pundit Eamon Dunphy offering one of his textbook forthright views on Sven, and make sure you head over this way tomorrow because we’ll be dusting off the synthesisers and shoulder pads as we go back to ’80s.

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