In an uncanny link with the way the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair came into the open, it was Alam's rival who leaked the killer details.

On Monday, after chief executive Mark Palios quit, the FA was in turmoil ahead of Thursday's inquiry verdict on coach Sven Goran Eriksson.

Both Palios and Eriksson were involved with secretary Alam - and referred to in her email correspondence with the long-forgotten rival.

The woman tricked Alam - whom she had met only briefly - into thinking she was emailing an old school chum.

Her motive was to try to establish whether Alam, 38, had slept with her partner a decade earlier.

The woman had grown increasingly jealous over the years after learning they dated the man at the same time.

Her partner denied having sex with Alam, admitting only limited contact.

But the woman, would not trust him.

Using the name "Laila Khan" for her emails, she lured Alam into revealing her sex-life secrets. That culminated in the description of her great sex with Palios, whom she called Pretty Polly, while being pursued by Eriksson at the same time. Those details ended up in the News of the World - and demolished the original FA denials of the story.

"Laila", a woman in her 30s from North London, knew of Alam as a part-time model 10 years ago.

Using facts she recalled and friends they shared, she introduced herself via Friends Reunited as a long-lost pal.

The more Alam apologised for not being able to recall "Laila's" face, the more she piled on names from the past.

"Laila" said: "I made out I wanted to copy her success with lots of men, saying I had slept with half of London and she had slept with the other half.

"She was flattered and started telling me all this stuff about how she had slept with this guy and that guy.

"I managed to find out that she had given oral sex to my partner, but had not slept with him. That was a relief because it fitted in with what he said.

"Then she confessed she had slept with somebody else I know, which we definitely weren't expecting.

"Later she mentioned sleeping with a couple of their friends, which was another shock, before mentioning these couple of big figures in soccer."

In her first email to "Laila", Alam wrote: "Yes, I am that same person...and I apologise if I fail to remember you...I'm not sure if it's you, but we did the Jewels of the East show."

Alam was soon totally duped - and in one email she unwittingly made disparaging references to the real "Laila".

The email exchanges, which began before Easter, went on 17 days later to include Palios and Eriksson.

Alam said she was dating "the big man of the whole place" - while the coach was "on my case big time".

"Laila" only realised the importance of the emails when the Alam-Eriksson story surfaced. Then she contacted news organisations.

The Clinton-Lewinsky story had

also been sparked by Monica's friend Linda Tripp, who revealed secretly taped conversations with Lewinsky.

On Monday Eriksson - his position apparently strengthened - said: "I have no comment to make, not today, not tomorrow."