Faria Alam (born 13 February 1966) is a former Football Association

secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a ...

Early life

Alam was born in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Myanmar, wi ...

(now

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

), but raised in the United Kingdom. Her family emigrated to the UK, living in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, Bradford,

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. When Alam was 19 years old, her mother took her to

and arranged a marriage to a doctor. Alam divorced and returned to England.

Football Association

After modelling and working as an administrator, in July 2003, Alam took a job as

personal assistant A personal assistant, also referred to as personal aide (PA) or personal secretary (PS), is a job title describing a person who assists a specific person with their daily business or personal task,. it is a sub-specialty of secretarial duties ...

to executive director David Davies at

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

, based at the organisation's headquarters in

Soho Square Soho Square is a garden square in Soho, London, hosting since 1954 a ''de facto'' public park let by the Soho Square Garden Committee to Westminster City Council. It was originally called King Square after Charles II, and a much weathered ...

, London. Alam began an affair with chief executive

Mark Palios Markos Palios (born 9 November 1952) is an English chartered accountant, football administrator and former professional footballer. In August 2014, it was announced that he and his wife Nicola were taking ownership of Tranmere Rovers F.C., where h ...

. When the relationship with Palios ended, she had an affair with then England football team manager Sven-Goran Eriksson. At the time Eriksson was in a relationship with

Nancy Dell'Olio Nancy Dell'Olio (born 23 August 1961) is an Italian-American lawyer and media personality. She first came to public notice as the girlfriend of football manager Sven-Göran Eriksson. Early life Annunziata Dell'Olio was born in New York City ...

, though shortly before he had had an affair with TV presenter

Ulrika Jonsson Eva Ulrika Jonsson (born 16 August 1967) is a Swedish-British television presenter and model. She became known as a TV-am weather presenter, moved on to present the ITV show ''Gladiators'', and as a team captain of the BBC Two show '' Shooting ...

. As Eriksson and Dell'Olio were often photographed, interviewed, and reported on in the media, when Alam's affairs came to the attention of the public in August 2004, a media scrum ensued and she resigned her post. On leaving her job with the FA, Alam hired publicity agent

Max Clifford Maxwell Frank Clifford (6 April 1943 – 10 December 2017) was an English publicist who was particularly associated with promoting " kiss and tell" stories in tabloid newspapers. In December 2012, as part of Operation Yewtree, Clifford was arr ...

. After negotiations, Clifford and Alam posed for photographs outside Clifford's

New Bond Street Bond Street in the West End of London links Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. Since the 18th century the street has housed many prestigious and upmarket fashion retailers. The southern section is Old Bond Street and the ...

offices surrounded by a scrum of photographers. Clifford brokered a number of deals for Alam, who was reportedly paid £400,000 for publication of kiss-and-tell stories about Palios and Eriksson in ''

The Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first pub ...

'' and ''

The News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national red top tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling English-language newspaper, and at closure still had one o ...

''. Alam was paid a further £150,000 for a television interview. In October 2004, Alam made claims against the Football Association of sexual harassment, unfair dismissal, and breach of contract. In September 2005, her claims were rejected by an industrial tribunal. In 2013, Alam testified in the

News International phone hacking scandal The News International phone hacking scandal was a controversy involving the now-defunct ''News of the World'' and other British newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch. Employees of the newspaper were accused of engaging in phone hacking, police b ...

; her phone had been hacked by

Glenn Mulcaire Glenn Michael Mulcaire (born 8 September 1970) is an English private investigator and former non-league footballer. He was closely involved in the News International phone hacking scandal, and was imprisoned for six months in 2007 for his role i ...

, a private investigator working on behalf of the '' News of the World'', in June 2004.

Celebrity Big Brother 2006

In January 2006, Alam appeared on ''

Celebrity Big Brother ''Big Brother VIP'', is an adaptation of the '' Big Brother'' reality television series. It is the celebrity version of its parent franchise ''Big Brother'', the celebrity version airs in several countries, however, the housemates or houseguest ...

''. On 17 January 2006, while up for the public vote, she commented that the public would "never let a black or Asian win" the show on the basis that the British establishment and/or media would not permit it. On 18 January 2006, she became the second housemate to be evicted.

Film work

In 2006, Alam played a hitwoman in the film ''

Cash and Curry "Cash and Curry" is the third episode of series 1 of the BBC sit-com ''Only Fools and Horses''. It was first screened on 22 September 1981. In the episode, Del Boy sees a chance to profit from a dispute between two Indian businessmen. Synopsis ...

''. In an interview she said of the role: ''"It was a role that presented itself to me and I took it on as one of life’s experiences"''. Eastern Eye, 17 August 2007

References

External links