Even former military leaders were fooled into believing they were the world’s oldest professional club, and Sven-Goran Eriksson was also embroiled in a high-profile scandal, caught up in a multi-million dollar fraud and money laundering scam.
In his final interview, Sven-Goran Eriksson recalled how his “dreams were ruined”.
Former England manager Eriksson has described his bizarre seven months at Notts County as one of the most high-profile scandals in football. Notts County, the world’s oldest professional club, were embroiled in a multi-million fraud and money laundering scam, exposed in incredible detail in a stunning new Sky documentary.
‘King of Lies: Football’s Biggest Fraud’, which airs on Sunday night, follows the breathtaking story of how a fraudster tricks Eriksson into buying a football club and takes him to North Korea, where he is asked to fix a World Cup draw. Eriksson said in the documentary: “It was incredible. They offered me a football club at the end of the meeting. It was a dream.”
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Its complexity was so astonishing that it fooled even the late Sir John Walker, former head of military intelligence.
But this is a remarkable interview with Mr Eriksson – filmed three months before his death in August last year – which is truly heartbreaking as he was appointed Notts County’s director of football in July 2009 and stayed on even after it was revealed that the whole thing was a hoax.
Eriksson was scouted as a top name in the Notts County scandal, along with former England defender Sol Campbell, before ultimately resigning in February the following year without making a penny.
Russell King is the con man behind the Notts County affair, recruiting a long list of people with a series of false promises. Television producer Matt Lorenzo, a well-known presenter and presenter, recalled how he was hired as the club’s communications director, but was told by Mr Erickson that he had lost his love over Notts County’s quackery.
Lorenzo said: “This was one of Sven’s last interviews. We went to his house in Sweden and he gave us a lot of time, because of course we worked together and built this relationship.”
“In fact, Sven said they ruined his dreams. He was a nice guy, but he was very naive and maybe too trusting, as evidenced by his involvement in the fake shake incident. Sol Campbell was probably the first to suspect it, because he only played one game and was sent off!”
“They were very smart and fooled me. I remember going into the meeting and thinking, ‘If Sir John Walker, the former director of military intelligence, is in it, it must be kosher.’ But they fooled him, too.”
Incredibly, Lorenzo was the only employee who actually received a paycheck before the fake consortium went out of control – just for two weeks.
But before they could do so, Dr. King somehow convinced Mr. Erickson to accompany him on a trip to North Korea, where a promise was made to hand over an oil tanker in exchange for minerals and cash.
Lorenzo added: “Sven obviously didn’t want to go, but in the end he was persuaded and when he got there he was greeted by the World Cup chairman and asked for a soft draw. They ended up leaving at the airport, but when they realized something was wrong, an official came up to them and said, ‘It’ll be fine, but we don’t know about him.'”
King ended up running across the runway and boarding the plane, but he wasn’t done yet, as he tried to buy the BMW F1 team shortly afterwards. Luckily, investigative journalist Matt Scott tipped Bernie Ecclestone off.
Lorenzo, who also just launched a new podcast, added: “This is an incredible story and I was talking about it with my business partner and he said, ‘There’s a documentary on this.’
“Sven realized it was all fake, but he stayed while everyone else (myself included) just ran away. The only ones who will be forgotten are the fans. Luckily, the ones who are forgotten, and against all odds, they somehow got promoted that season.”
The King of Lies: Football’s Biggest Fraud will be broadcast on Sky Documentary on Sunday 16 November at 8pm.
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