Before announcing his retirement from international
football, Carragher represented England while Eriksson was in
charge. During his tenure with England, the Swede earned a
reputation as a bit of a lothario, with girlfriends including Nancy
Dell'Olio, Ulrika Johnson and, most controversially, Faria Alam,
the Football Association secretary who resigned after relationships
with both Eriksson and chief executive Mark Palios.
Eriksson, now in charge of the Mexico national team, was also,
apparently, more than willing to give advice to his players on
matters of the bedroom while away on international duty, and in his
new book Carragher said: "I was never sure if Eriksson was an
international manager or international playboy. I know what he was
best at.
"The longer he spent in the job, the worse his status became as
a football coach and the better he became a Casanova.
"Before one of his early World Cup qualifiers, a story broke
about girls finding their way into the team hotel to provide some
of the players with pre-match 'entertainment'.
"Eriksson summoned us for what we expected to be a stern
warning. Instead we received some fatherly advice. "'There's no
need to have girls in the team hotel,' Sven told us. 'If you see
someone you like, just get her phone number and arrange to go to
her house after the game. Then we will have no problems.'"
Carragher eventually became disillusioned with international
football under Eriksson's replacement Steve McClaren. He made his
last appearance wearing the Three Lions on June 1 2007, when
England drew 1-1 against Brazil at the new Wembley.
He then chose to turn his back on the national team after
finding himself below Rio Ferdinand, Sol Campbell, Jonathan
Woodgate and Ledley King in the pecking order.