Sven-Goran Eriksson slipped a clean cheque in my pocket, says Ulrika
Sven-Göran Eriksson slipped a blank cheque from Britain’s most exclusive bank into Ulrika Jonsson’s pocket during an affair ‘devoid of passion’, his former lover revealed today.
The television presenter and model, now 56, has kept the Coutts cheque as a memento of their short relationship, joking: ‘It might have been nice to fill it out at some point for all the hassle he brought me’.
Speaking today after a new documentary on his life emerged, Ulrika said of their 16-week dalliance: ‘This was no great passionate affair. It was devoid of passion. He had all this power and money, yet he was the weakest man I have ever met’.
‘I don’t think he had a romantic bone in his body’, she added, revealing that when not having sex they only really talked about football.
They had met at a party held by Tony Blair‘s spin doctor Alastair Campbell in 2002 when he former weather girl, then 34, asked for his autograph. Sven, then 54, replied in Swedish and asked for her phone number.
Ulrika Jonsson, left in 1997 and right this year, has spoken out after Sven Goran Eriksson discussed their four-month affair on a new documentary – and has some choice words for him and his ex Nancy
Eriksson returned to his long-term partner, the Italian lawyer Nancy Dell’Olio, who says she enjoyed being the ‘first lady of English football’
He then bombarded her with phone calls while on holiday with Nancy, telling Ulrika how ‘beautiful’ she was. When he came home they met up and had sex.
Next they flew to Sven’s home in Portugal for a secret holiday between England games, sitting at the front of the plane together ‘giggling all the way’.
After a night together in the luxurious villa west of Lisbon, they returned home.
‘The following morning we left for the airport together and, in the car, he put a blank cheque from Coutts in my pocket when I wasn’t looking. He presented me with a blank cheque which he put in my pocket when I wasn’t looking’, she said in The Sun today.
Their four-month affair ended when it broke in the press – but Ulrika claims that Sven left her ‘high and dry’.
His ‘feisty’ Italian girlfriend Nancy slapped him but stayed with him on the advice of her lawyer, a new Amazon Prime film released next week reveals.
Speaking about Nancy, Ulrika said: ‘She should be grateful for me raising her profile. When it hit the headlines Nancy was suddenly famous. And she used that to her advantage. She’d have never been on Strictly Come Dancing if it wasn’t for me.
‘He says he was afraid (of leaving her). I’ve never in my life fought over a man. I know Nancy was clinging to Sven, but she really needn’t have worried.
‘He never promised me he would leave her, because I never asked him to’.
Ulrika has said that sex with Sven was boring and he didn’t have a romantic bone in his body
Ulrika, pictured hosting Gladiators, said she met Sven at a party and they bonded over Sweden and football
Ulrika claims that Sven was ‘scared’ to leave Nancy – not that she asked him to – and that Nancy liked the attention of being the partner of the England manager
The terminally ill former football coach, 76, tells the documentary ‘Sven’ that he was ‘stupid’ to have cheated on partner Nancy with Ulrika and his FA secretary Faria Alam.
But the former England football manager insists sex should be celebrated and added: ‘I didn’t do anything criminal.’
Writing in The Sun today Ulrika said: ‘He says in his documentary that he didn’t commit a crime, and he’s right about that. But he did do wrong’.
But she went on: ‘As far as I could tell, he cared only about three things: His two children, who he adored. And football’.
Sven has terminal pancreatic cancer.
Ulrika said today: ‘I’m sure he has regrets over some of his actions, but what good are regrets when the clock is ticking? I bear him no ill will’.
Ulrika has said previously that making love with Sven-Goran Eriksson was as dull as putting together Ikea flat-pack furniture.
‘Putting together a Billy bookcase would have probably left me more satisfied’, she said.
The 76-year-old Swede made headlines around the world due to his philandering while managing England’s golden generation between 2001 and 2006.
Speaking on a new Amazon Prime documentary about his life, called ‘Sven’, he talks openly about his affairs.
But he insists that ‘sex is one of the good things in life for all of us’, he wasn’t married and didn’t break any hearts.
His reputation was hurt by his affairs and he has revealed that at the height of his fame he met Tony Blair for tea at 10 Downing Street and the Labour PM joked: ‘Shall we take a bet? Who keeps the job longest, you or me? We have two impossible jobs’.
And poignantly speaking about his terminal pancreatic cancer he said: ‘Whoever it was said “life is too short” is right. I had a good life, maybe too good. You have to pay for it. I think we all are scared of the day when it’s finished, when you die. You have to learn to accept it for what it is’.
Nancy Dell’Olio also spoke to Amazon Prime and reveals how she almost left him over his affair with Ulrika – but her lawyer advised her not to and she also liked being the ‘first lady of English football’ so stayed with him.
Former manager of England national football team Sven-Goran ‘Svennis’ Eriksson is honoured for his efforts at local club Degerfors in June. He is terminally ill with pancreatic cancer
Nancy Dell’Olio has told a new documentary how she almost left Sven over his ‘stupid’ affair with Ulrika Jonsson – but her lawyer advised her not to
Faria Alam, who was Sven’s secretary when they had an affair, says she was in love with him
The decorated football coach, who took a conservative approach on the pitch, had relationships with a string of much younger women off it.
He was in a relationship with Italian lawyer Nancy for almost a decade but then had affairs with Swedish model and journalist Ulrika Jonsson and former Football Association secretary Faria Alam.
Sven concedes that his reputation was hurt by his affairs, but he didn’t feel he did anything terrible.
Talking about when his fling with Ulrika emerged, he said: ‘Sex is one of the good things in life for all of us. She was not married. I was not married.
‘Probably I was stupid but I think I didn’t do anything criminal. I didn’t really disturb anyone.’
Nancy wanted to leave him – but changed her mind.
Sven said: ‘She loved it. The tension. She was a lady from the upper classes in Rome. She liked to go out with important people.
‘In the beginning I didn’t react very much. But you don’t change people at a certain age. It was not peace in my house always.’
Nancy said she loved Sven.
She said: ‘The first impression that I had about Sven, people in power always have extra, extra sex appeal. I felt in love.
‘It wasn’t something that I was looking for. I was married and I left my husband to start my journey with Sven.
‘We were Sven and Nancy since the first date.
‘I was the first lady of English football and there was never going to be another one after me.’
She went on: ‘The stupidity of Sven. After Sven’s first scandal, I wanted to leave him.
‘I couldn’t want to admit to myself that there was a possibility that I made a mistake. That I left everything for him. My lawyers said give him another chance but think what you can get from this.’
Sven Goran Eriksson told Swedish radio he has cancer and may only have a year to live in January
Sven-Goran Eriksson remains with his girlfriend Yaniseth Bravo in Sweden, she says she will no give up hope that he will beat cancer
Between 2001 and 2006 he guided the so-called ‘golden generation’ of stars including David Beckham, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard but never won the major trophy that was expected
Rumours of Eriksson’s relationship with TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson emerged in 2002 and were later confirmed. Ulrika said that sex with Sven-Göran Eriksson was as ‘boring as building an Ikea bookcase’
Eriksson’s affair with FA secretary Faria Alam was all over the papers during 2004. He lost his job months later
Faria Alam had an affair with Sven and FA chief executive Mark Palios. She was forced to resign but gave a series of kiss and tell interviews.
Speaking to the documentary she said: ‘The Noughties were just that, they were naughty.
‘You could do so many things. I’ll be honest, I was a beautiful girl and I attracted a lot of attention.
‘He said, “Tell your story, go and tell them everything. Make some money, why not?”.’
Reports at the time suggested she may have made £300,000 from deals with newspapers.
Describing their relationship she said: ‘He didn’t have the mindset of a super-rich man. He talked to me about poetry, he talked to me about art.
‘He was saying how he did yoga and things like that.
‘And I just fell in love with him, I guess. And that lit the fuse for all this to explode’.
But she was angry at being painted as a ‘gold digger’ when the story broke, adding: ‘I’m the person that’s the bad person, and I was the scapegoat for them to be relieved of any responsibility’.
The documentary, released next week on Prime, comes after Sven revealed in January that he was terminally ill with cancer and was told he had a year to live.
‘Hopefully, at the end people will say, ‘Yeah, he was a good man’. But everyone will not say that. I hope you will remember me as a positive guy and trying to do everything he could do. Don’t be sorry. Smile’, he said.
He lives in Sweden near Sunne, in Värmland, where he grew up.
His partner Yaniseth Alcides, a former dancer he met in Mexico, is caring for him.
She said: ‘I have hope that we will be together for many more years. I will not lose that hope.’
Sven adds: ‘It’s a beautiful place. It makes me calm, below the mountain where my father grew up.
‘The ashes could be thrown into the water here.’
The football manager was England boss between 2001 and 2006. Sven pictured with David Beckham after dumped out of the 2006 World Cup by Portugal in the quarter final
England’s unforgettable 5-1 win in Munich offered hope Eriksson could deliver success
David Beckham’s last-gasp free-kick against Greece sent England to the 2002 World Cup
But David Seaman’s horrendous misjudgement of Ronaldinho’s free-kick cost England at the world cup in 2002
Eriksson took England to three major quarter-finals and lost twice on penalties. Their first loss came in the 2004 European Champions. Beckham fired his penalty over the bar (above)
The 2006 World Cup saw England crash out again to Portugal after Rooney’s red card
In a glittering managerial career Sven was boss of IFK Gothenburg, Benfica, Roma, Roma, Fiorentina, Sampdoria, Lazio, Manchester City and Leicester City.
He was also manager of Mexico, Ivory Coast and the Philippines.
But while in charge of England for five years he became the most famous football manager in the world.
Between 2001 and 2006 he guided the so-called ‘golden generation’ of stars including David Beckham, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard but never won the major trophy that was expected.
His tragic diagnosis came almost exactly 22 years after he resigned as Lazio manager earlier than expected to assume his coaching role with England.
The Swede had signed a five-year contract three months earlier to take over in the summer of 2001.
Eriksson said his Lazio side ‘were one of the best in the world’ and he was probably correct.
But that ‘once in a lifetime’ chance to manage England, and the £3million salary that came with it, proved too good to turn down.
Eriksson soon revitalised a long-failing England side. The team’s thumping 5-1 win over Germany offering great optimism and flipping the qualifying group for World Cup 2002, even if it took Beckham’s last-minute free-kick against Greece to avoid a tricky play-off with Ukraine.
Eriksson demanded his private life should remain private but the job was too much in the white hot glare of the spotlight for that to wash.
On the pitch, England laboured through their World Cup group but gathered momentum by battering Denmark.
In the quarter-final with Brazil, England led through Owen but David Seaman’s hapless misjudgement of Ronaldinho’s flighted free-kick five minutes after half-time saw them trailing.
‘We wanted Winston Churchill and we got Iain Duncan Smith,’ Southgate famously said of Eriksson’s limp half-time team talk but it was his dithering over subs and tactics when Ronaldinho was sent off with 33 minutes left that ultimately cost England.
England will likely never have a better chance to win a World Cup. If they’d overcome 10-man Brazil, they would have faced Turkey in the semi-finals and a Germany team they’d recently thrashed 5-1 in the final.
Eriksson continued but a year later was spotted with Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon, leading to paper speculation he was about to reap the rewards of Roman Abramovich’s arrival.
In the end, the FA were the ones that panicked, tabling an extended contract until 2008 at £5m-a-year.
And when an England side that were booed off at Upton Park after losing a friendly to Australia and could only draw 2-2 at home to Macedonia before scraping qualification for Euro 2004, the omens weren’t good.
So it proved. Recovering from opening night defeat to France, a team powered up by 18-year-old Rooney swept aside Switzerland and Croatia to set up a quarter-final with hosts Portugal.
Again England squandered an early lead given them by Owen before Sol Campbell saw a goal disallowed in extra time and the inevitable exit on penalties.
The talents of the so-called ‘Golden Generation’ were patently going to waste but sacking Sven was too expensive for the FA to contemplate.
He laboured on but when details of his affair with FA secretary Faria Alam emerged two months after the tournament, another chunk of credibility was chipped away.
There was an easy tabloid contrast to be drawn between his impassive observations from the bench and apparent energy behind drawn curtains.
By the time the 2006 World Cup rolled around, Eriksson had been duped by the News of the World’s ‘Fake Sheikh’ Mazher Mahmood, betraying confidences about players and clubs.
FA chief executive Brian Barwick cut short Eriksson’s contract, with a reduced pay-off, and told him to deliver success in the tournament in Germany. But they failed at the quarter-final stage again.
- SVEN is on Prime Video in the UK, Ireland and Nordics on August 23.
