FOUL play

How a con man dragged Sven-Göran Eriksson into a fraudulent football takeover

- WORDS: NATASHA HOLT, TESS LAMA CRAFT, IAN MACEWAN

NEW FACTUAL

King of Lies: Football’s Greatest Con

Sunday, 8pm, Sky Documentaries

In the early 2000s, Notts County, the world’s oldest pro football club, was facing an uncertain future as its financial difficulties saw it placed into administration. But then, just as fans were praying for a miracle, a mysterious consortium supposedly backed by the Bahraini royal family stepped in to buy the club.

And at a time when foreign investment into football clubs was becoming commonplace, it looked as though this would be the answer to those prayers.