Tearful secretary tells of her love for Eriksson
Ms Alam told the cameras to stop rolling on Tonight with Trevor McDonald so she could compose herself after revealing her fears the England football coach would return to long-term partner, Nancy Dell’Olio.
Asked if she was in love with him, she said: “If I wasn’t then, I am now.”
She said she did not think he was in love with her, and, asked if she thinks he had been, she said:
“No. But it doesn’t matter because I am sure he will go back to her (Nancy) because she’ll accept him back.”
She also broke down after acknowledging she had to bear some responsibility for the crisis at the FA, after initially denying her affair with Eriksson to FA officials which led to their inaccurate press statement.
“I was very scared and I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to say and what I didn’t want to say, but I just wanted to protect him and protect me,’’ she said.
“I guess some of this was brought on myself, my stupidity, I don’t know if it was naivety, I don’t know but at the time ... I was in shock. I thought I was doing the right thing. Didn’t expect this to blow up in my face in such a big way.”
She also told the programme she was not pregnant by Eriksson and denied allegations that she had an affair with a third man at the FA.
Ms Alam first broke her silence on her sexual relationships with the Swede and FA chief executive Mark Palios in newspaper interviews with the News of the World and the Mail on Sunday.
She told how Eriksson phoned her from Portugal every day during the Euro 2004 tournament.
She said he was devastated after England was knocked out by Portugal and fled to Sweden when she accepted his invitation to join him there. Ms Alam said the last time she and Eriksson spoke was last week when he told her: “Don’t worry, everything will be alright.”
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