Football: Palios resigns FA post over ' Svengate ' Affair

Mark Palios has quit as chief executive of the Football Association as the 'Svengate' shambles claimed its first - but almost certainly not its last - victim.

Palios tendered his resignation to FA chairman Geoff Thompson on Sunday evening after accepting his position had become untenable in light of the day's newspaper revelations.

The News of the World claimed they had been offered full details of Eriksson's affair with secretary Faria Alam by the FA's director of communications Colin Gibson in exchange for keeping Palios' relationship with the same woman out of the news.

Gibson has also offered his resignation over the matter, a move he described as "honourable", with the FA due to respond on Monday.



[Edited on 1/8/04 by TRD]

www.sportinglife.com.../04/08/01/SOCCER_England_Eriksson_2nd_N.html&TEAMHD=soccer

Anyways, its a good thing he resigned. Sven should follow in his footsteps. Football doesn't need a pimp running the English National team. It also doesn't require Sven to introduce Rooney to a slut, to popularize the game at the expense of Rooney playmanship.

Hands down to the FA for taking such actions. Sven should be given the boot. I've seen other coaches get fired for lesser reasons.

To be honest i have to agree. Sven seems to be carrying too much baggage and all this crap in the papers and such is not good. He needs to step down himself and walk away with what little dignity he has left.

Sir Trevor Brooking insisted that former Football Association chief executive Mark Palios would be a hard full-time act to follow as moves were afoot for the ex-England international to replace him on a caretaker basis.

Palios resigned from his post on Sunday night as the first casualty of the controversy which has surrounded the FA since it was confirmed that both he and Sven-Goran Eriksson had affairs with secretary Faria Alam.

While Eriksson was set to be interviewed by the inquiry team set up by the FA, the governing body have been looking for a safe pair of hands to restore their battered image.

Executive director David Davies, who spoke out in support of Eriksson on Monday, has been filling the vacant chief executive role on a temporary basis so far this week.

However, as the FA executive who spoke to Eriksson about his affair and, indeed, as Alam's boss, Davies is thought by some to be too close to the whole controversy.

Brooking has therefore been sounded out as the ideal figurehead to present the respectable, clean-cut face of the organisation over the next few weeks.

The former England international, who has also been touted as a possible caretaker replacement for Eriksson if the England coach leaves, was hired by Palios as the FA's new director of football development in January.
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