'Sex, drugs and penalties'

Last Modified: 09 Oct 2008
By: Channel 4 News

Former FA chief executive David Davies's new autobiography is a tale of fake sheikhs, fickle secretaries and beauty queens.

FA Confidential: sex, drugs and penalties - the inside story of English football, by David Davies with Henry Winter. 362pp, Simon & Schuster, £17.99.

This is what David Davies has to say about some of those he came into contact with during his time at the English FA.

Sven-Goran Eriksson

"Sven was in a fortunate position that a number of women found him attractive. They tell me when Sven talks to a woman he makes her feel she is the only woman in the world."

Faria Alam

"Faria had trampled all over my family for a year simply to try to get a few quid out of the FA. Disgusting."

Steve McClaren's appointment

"Bruised, battered and on the rebound, Barwick and Johnson went for McClaren, Sven's no 2. Five years earlier, Adam Crozier made great play of bringing through an English coach in Sven's slipstream, and by accident rather than design this now happened."

Life at the FA

"I trusted the people I worked with. I did not expect them to be leaping into bed with one another."

Beckham after football

"When David eventually retires, I just hope he never becomes a manager. His strengths do not lie in the direction of the dugout."

Gazza dropped for France '98

"Informed he was cut from England's World Cup adventure, Gazza went mad...I ran out of my room and witnessed the carnage wrought by a wild Gazza."

Glenn Hoddle axed

"People rightly ask: 'Did David Davies betray Glenn Hoddle?' I don't believe I did. Glenn Hoddle let himself down with whatever he said about the disabled in a football interview."

Theo Walcott picked for World Cup

"Steven Gerrard, I knew, was unimpressed with Theo's choice but Sven had made his judgement. Would having Defoe or Bent at the World Cup have changed our fortunes? No."

Losing to Brazil in 2002

"What went wrong against Brazil? To my dying day, I'll believe the absence of Gary Neville was a huge burden to England...he would have raged, fought and got the team going."