Sven's support from Beckham

The England captain has already tried to contact Eriksson after his affair with television star Ulrika Jonsson became public last Friday.

Eriksson yesterday promised that he intends to speak to Beckham.

The Manchester United star's message will be that the players' total belief in their coach is unaffected by the revelations. All along, the line from the Football Association has been that Eriksson's private life has no bearing on his job.

Of all the England players, Beckham is most used to the intense spotlight the Swede is now under. With wife Victoria, the former Spice girl, they are Britain's most famous showbusiness couple and are rarely allowed private moments away from their lavish homes in Cheshire and Hertfordshire.

Eriksson has experienced similar circumstances in the last four days after it first surfaced that he was romantically linked with Jonsson while continuing his threeyear relationship with Italian lawyer Nancy Dell'Olio.

Eriksson said: "I haven't spoken to the players, although David left a message for me on Friday and I'll phone him. I normally wouldn't phone the players every day or second day.

"I talked to (FA chief executive) Adam Crozier on Friday, and also (executive director) David Davies and (head of communications) Paul Newman, and we're going on working on World Cup preparations."

When asked about the affect of his alleged affair on his relationship with England players, he added: "Good question. I don't know. I have no idea about that. It is maybe an issue for me to take up in May.

"I am looking forward to the World Cup. I will get on with my job as usual. I haven't done anything different from normal in these last few days."

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