Eriksson may pay the penalty for own goal as Palios cleared of lying

A MASSIVE question mark hangs over the future of England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson after Football Association chief executive Mark Palios was cleared of lying over the Swede’s affair with secretary Faria Alam.

Chairman Geoff Thompson has confirmed that a special meeting of the 12-man FA board will be held on August 5, when the full findings of the ‘urgent inquiry’ he launched on Monday and the action to be taken will be discussed.

The pressure on Eriksson was intensified hugely by a four-paragraph statement from Thompson which exonerated Palios from any blame over the PR shambles surrounding the Alam case, but tellingly did not mention the England coach at all.

Thompson feels the FA have been hugely embarrassed by the conflicting statements they released in the wake of stories alleging Eriksson had embarked on a relationship with Alam, an FA employee.

Initially, a statement was released by the FA denying there had been any relationship between the pair.

However, this was retracted seven days later when they were confronted with e-mail evidence proving there had been.

Thompson is anxious to discover if any member of FA staff - including Eriksson and Palios, who has also admitted to having had a relationship with Alam - had lied over the matter, a situation which could be regarded as ‘gross misconduct’ and have massive disciplinary consequences.

“On Monday, on behalf of the Football Association, I instigated an urgent inquiry into the circumstances which led to the FA issuing legal statements based on misleading information,” said the statement issued on Thompson’s behalf.

“I have received categorical assurances from chief executive Mark Palios that he did not mislead or attempt to mislead the FA or its officials.

“I am satisfied by the chief executive’s reassurances.

“The inquiry remains ongoing and the findings will be submitted to the FA board at a special meeting on August 5.

“The FA will not be making any further statement until the full facts have been gathered and analysed.”

In publicly clearing Palios from any wrongdoing, Thompson, whether intentionally or not, has maximised the pressure on Eriksson - a situation the FA were made fully aware of before they released their statement.

Eriksson will be in Amsterdam this weekend, checking on the Arsenal players due to compete in a four-team tournament with Panathinaikos, River Plate and hosts Ajax.