Svengate PA says: I loved him

Faria Alam, the secretary at the centre of the sex scandal which has rocked English football, declared her love for Sven-Goran Eriksson yesterday.

She wept as she told of her fears that the England coach would return to his long-term partner, Nancy Dell'Olio.

Ms Alam, a 38-year-old who also had a brief dalliance with FA chief executive Mark Palios, said she slept with Eriksson only once.

It happened when he invited her to his home in Stockholm after the Euro 2004 tournament.

'That was the only time there was any sort of physical contact,' she claimed.

Her comments came in her first TV interview, for ITV's Tonight With Trevor McDonald show.

Earlier, Ms Alam told Sunday newspapers that the FA pressured her to keep quiet about her affair with Palios.

She accused Eriksson of abandoning her and said she felt isolated.