Eriksson comes out fighting in effort to save his job

ENGLAND coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has come out fighting in an attempt to save his job.

With speculation growing that the Swede would be dismissed for gross misconduct next Thursday as a result of the PR shambles that accompanied revelations of his affair with secretary Faria Alam, Eriksson has launched a counter-offensive. He claims he neither 'confirmed nor denied' the relationship and was not consulted about the incorrect statements which angered FA chairman Geoff Thompson.

The move comes 48 hours after Thompson confirmed a special meeting of the 12-man FA board would sit in judgment on the matter next Thursday, once the findings of the 'urgent inquiry' he felt compelled to set up were known.