SVEN-GORAN ERIKSSON has admitted Victoria Beckham “didn’t make it easy” for England at the 2006 World Cup.
The former Three Lions boss opened up on the infamous Wag summer that rocked his team at the Germany showcase.
And the Swede, now 74, spoke to BoyleSports about the negative impact Posh Spice had on the playing squad.
He said: “One of the wives was Victoria Beckham and of course that didn’t make it easy, it made it fantastic for the press.
“But all the other countries, Sweden for example, I knew exactly what they did with their wives and so on.
“I don’t think any Swedish paper ever talked about it because it’s natural and I think most of the teams were doing that.
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“In England it became huge in the press and a scandal, but I couldn’t see what the scandal was.
“We saw the wives maybe once a week at dinner and I decided when that should be, and the rest of the days of course the wives were invited here and there and the FA helped them not to be sat in a hotel, bored, and I think that was great.
“But whatever they did it was a scandal, if they went to a bar, if they went to a restaurant, if they went out shopping. They were totally normal things.
“I found the reaction a little bit unhelpful, but I don’t think all of those players know what the English press is.
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“The football press of course, but the other side of the press, I don’t think they were that prepared for that.”
The team were stationed in the Black Forest spa town of Baden-Baden – a resort that became synonymous with the wild antics of the wives and girlfriends in between games.
Led by Victoria, Cheryl and Coleen Rooney, football took a backseat to tales of drunk dancing on tables and huge hotel party bills.
While the country’s golden generation ended up crashing out to Portugal on penalties in the quarter-finals.
But whatever they did it was a scandal, if they went to a bar, if they went to a restaurant, if they went out shopping.
Sven Goran Eriksson on the Wags
Captain David Beckham has previously confessed that the England Wags went “a bit too far” during the tournament.
Becks said: “Even Victoria, she is the first to say when she looks back: ‘What was I doing? What was I wearing? Why would I do that?’ I think it went a bit too far.
“There was more spoken about the Wags than the football. At that time, for the players, you want to focus on the tournament rather than anything else.”
Current Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate has rejected plans for England Wags to star in a Netflix documentary during this winter’s World Cup.
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They will be staying in luxury during their time in Qatar after booking in at Banana Island.
Wags such as Charlotte Trippier (Kieran Trippier’s wife), Megan Davison (Jordan Pickford’s partner), Fern Hawkins (Harry Maguire’s wife), Annie Kilner (Kyle Walker’s wife) and Anouska Santos (Luke Shaw’s girlfriend) could all be at Banana Island.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
