They, Saturday papers said, were ready to strike if their manager was sacked. “The lads,” said England defender John Terry, “are all behind Sven.” You could understand their position. He was quoted as saying human rights legislation guaranteed his privacy, and that his employers were in breach of these rights by asking him about his social life.The implications of this were not long lost on the players. All this on a day when a third FA executive was revealed to have dallied with Ms Alam.But, since this was football, all this sex talk soon elided into speculation about large sums of money. Sven (salary £4m a year) was said to be looking at a possible £14m compensation if unfairly dismissed – which might go some way to footing the separation bill Nancy is likely to present him with. Sven, it was reported from Amsterdam, to which he had repaired on Friday, was adamant he would not resign. Ms Alam (£35,000 per) was also said to be anticipating a big pay-off, and, according to ubiquitous publicist Max Clifford (with whom she was not yet in cahoots), could ask up to £1m for her story.It was only a matter of time before our old friend “human rights” was invoked Sure enough, as yesterday dawned, up it popped.

A statement from Sven said: “I have at no time either categorically confirmed or denied any relationship with Ms Faria Alam” – the “categorically” instantly raising the knowing eyebrows of the deconstructors. Fortunately for us all, he went on: “Neither I nor my advisers had any prior knowledge whatsoever of the statement authorised by the FA on behalf of Ms Alam on 19 July, nor of the press release issued by the FA 24 July, nor were either myself or my advisers consulted in any way about the contents of either statement.” He also said that he was looking forward to Thursday’s meeting with the FA board to discuss “these matters”. Just what, the press wanted to know, had passed between the manager and the FA before it summoned the men in wigs and issued denials?After a day or so’s probing, it emerged that when an unnamed FA official (said to be Mr David Davies, the executive director) raised the matter of Ms Alam with Sven, he was not best pleased. “This is nonsense,” is what the manager, then holidaying at his lakeside home in Sweden, was said to have barked down the phone. And these three words were then endlessly deconstructed to detect if they referred to the central allegation, or merely to him being bothered while on leave with yet another hare set running by the tabloids. His assistant, Tord Grip, added to the confusion by saying that Sven “did not lie”, without telling us about what precisely it was that he didn’t fib.Thursday brought clarification, of a distinctly Swedish sort.

His statement adroitly swerved around the question of whether Sven had done any misleading, thus raising tantalising questions. With Sven, and, er, Mr Palios, too – thus raising the question of upon what were the earlier denials based. As FA board members spluttered (“We’re left looking like mugs,” said one), their chairman – bearded, devout Christian Geoff Thompson – announced an inquiry and said that Mr Palios “had not misled or attempted to mislead the FA”. He phoned her constantly, or failed to stand by her; was a “generous lover” or a “flop in bed”; caroused with her in upscale restaurants, or dropped into her Tower Bridge flat after work.

She, meanwhile, was “a huge flirt”, or “not the sort of woman to throw herself at a man”. It all depended on which of her anonymous, friends your paper believed. The great man himself, however, kept his opinions of the lady’s charms to himself. Sven was still staying stum.But in the light of the NoW story, the FA had no option but to cough, shuffle its feet and then issue a statement “confirming a relationship did take place”.