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.