Experts' verdict on Faria's TV tears

It was the night when Faria Alam was given the chance to tell her side of the story about her affair with Sven-Goran Eriksson to millions of TV viewers.

And PR consultants decided the former Football Association secretary did not let herself down. She dressed sensibly - soberly even - in a white shirt, and wore her hair tied back simply. And she spoke calmly and confidently about the relationship that has rocked the FA.

Millions of viewers watched Ms Alam interviewed on a Tonight With Trevor McDonald special, in a polished performance that had public relations experts applauding.

There were tears, a request for the cameras to stop rolling and an admission that she was in love. The scene even had echoes of Martin Bashir's notorious interview with Princess Diana on BBC1's Panorama.

Ms Alam maintained her composure as she described clandestine lunches with Eriksson and said she was attracted by his "ice cool exterior... he's a gentleman, he's charming, he's caring".

Mark Borkowski, head of the Borkowski PR agency, praised the way Ms Alam's public image had been handled and the way she came across.

"The programme obviously really wanted the chance to interview her, so the situation could be managed to her advantage," Mr Borkowski said. "Any time there was a difficult question the way she had been coached meant she could give the answer that she wanted."

He continued: "I think there will also have been some say as to who they wanted the interviewer to be. All this meant that she came across as being intelligent and educated, not someone who clings to powerful men as a way of getting to the top."

Psychologists agreed that Ms Alam had won the battle to present herself favourably. Kate Nicholls, a psychology academic at City University, London, who researches affairs and broken relationships, said there had been nothing in Ms Alam's demeanour to suggest she was lying about her feelings for Eriksson.

"She came across as being quite honest - though I can imagine some people seeing her as being cold," Ms Nicholls said.

"But she handled the situation well." The psychologist said she did not think Ms Alam felt responsible for her affair with Eriksson, so did not have to justify it.

"Part of that is also her way of managing the situation that she has found herself in, with all the pressure that has been put on her by the media."

Mr Borkowski also praised the way Ms Alam presented herself and the choice of setting for the interview, handled in a tough, direct style by Fiona Foster.

"She was elegant and sombre," he said. "Her make-up was subtle and underplayed, which meant you didn't spend your time looking at that instead of her.

"The setting was quite amazing. It was as if it was out of Hello! magazine, but again it didn't detract from the interview itself."

Many of last night's "revelations" had already been spilled before the ITV1 programme was broadcast, but viewers still watched transfixed as Ms Alam, 38, was asked if she was in love with Eriksson.

"If I wasn't then, I am now," she told Foster as her eyes filled with tears - right on cue, a cynic might have said.

There was more drama as Ms Alam said she did not think Eriksson, 56, had ever been in love with her. Asked if she thought he was, she said: "No. But it doesn't matter because I am sure he will go back to [Nancy], because she'll accept him back."

Seconds later, tears sprang to Ms Alam's eyes, and she blinked hard as she begged the cameras to stop rolling.

Ms Alam again broke down after acknowledging she must 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."