WHEN Notts County unveiled Sven-Goran Eriksson as their new Director of Football in July 2009, the jaws of fans dropped to the floor.
After years spent languishing in administration, a mysterious consortium seemingly backed by Middle Eastern money had taken over, with promises to take the League Two side all the way to the Prem in just five years.
Top talent in the form of Kasper Schmeichel and Sol Campbell were brought in, and there was talk of even bigger signings – even David Beckham.
For a minute, the oldest professional football club in the world was living the dream.
But it was a dream that came crashing down mere months later, in what would end up one of the most extraordinary scandals ever to grip English football.
It’s a tale of how one conman tricked his way into taking over the club, even bringing Sven on a trip to North Korea along the way.
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“It looked too good to be true. They offered me a football club – a dream,” said Sven, speaking in one of his last ever interviews before his death, for the documentary King of Lies: Football’s Greatest Con which airs tonight.
“I still think the project, if it had been true, would have been fantastic. One of the best I’d ever done,” he added.
“But it was the worst I’d ever done.”
Although the fiasco left fans devastated, Sven took the noble step in staying on at the club even after it was apparent the whole thing was a sham, guiding them through the troubled waters without demanding a penny.
Like so many others, he had been fooled by convicted fraudster Russell King and masterful deception.
English football was undergoing a transformation in the Noughties, as clubs like Chelsea and City were taken over by foreign businessmen with big pockets and even bigger ambitions.
Notts County, meanwhile, had spent years languishing in the bottom half of League Two – but they were also the world’s oldest professional football club.
So it seemed believable when a consortium called Munto Finance, headed by Russell King, wanted to take over the club, apparently with the backing of Bahrain’s royal family.
The deal went through – and soon Sven was getting wined and dined at the Dorchester Hotel.
Fantasy football
At first he had no interest, but with the possibility of a blank cheque to Manchester City-style transformation on the cards, his ears perked up.
“They were educated people and good speakers,” said Sven.
“They presented the project. They said, ‘You do what you want to do with the club. It’s yours.
“I said this will cost a lot of money. But they guaranteed money would not be the problem.
“They promised to rebuild the club totally. It was not step by step, let us be in the First Division for a couple of years. It was straight, Premier League in five years.”
Coming in as Director of Football, the world’s media descended on Meadow Lane to hear Sven lay out the road to glory.
In came City keeper Kasper Schmeichel, and then – to the delight of fans – Sol Campbell, although he left after one game.
There was talk of signing Brazil full-back Roberto Carlos and Luis Figo, and even Beckham’s name was on people’s lips, with rumours he might be keen to reunite with his old England boss.
“There’s a few options, put it that way,” Beckham told journalists, who at the time was 34 and playing for LA Galaxy.
The season was underway, but the takeover’s backers remained a mystery, and it had yet to be ratified by the league.
But what Sven – nor anyone else at the club – didn’t know was that the man pulling the strings, King, wasn’t who he said he was.
In September 2009 The Sun unmasked King as a convicted fraudster who had served a two-year sentence in the early 90s for falsely claiming his £600,000 Aston Martin had been stolen.
They came to me one day in the office and said that they’re going to North Korea on business
Sven-Goran Eriksson
And to secure the club’s takeover, a guarantee of £5million guarantee had been used from a bank called First London.
But King himself had already seized ownership of nearly 50 per cent of the bank, convincing, among others, former defence intelligence chief Sir John Walker that he was managing investments for Bahrain’s royal family.
He was even in talks to take over BMW’s F1 team while questions mounted over where the money for Notts County was actually coming from.
He referred to himself as Lord Voldemort, and even used the Harry Potter villain’s name to sign off documents, thus keeping his actual name off them.
Then things took an even more bizarre turn.
Trillion dollar ‘deal’
King had secured a deal with North Korea to mine the country’s vast mineral reserves, which were worth trillions – and he wanted Sven to come with him.
“They came to me one day in the office and said that they’re going to North Korea on business,” he said.
Sven refused, but King insisted it was important for the club.
He went, and found the red carpet rolled out for King.
“I met the North Korean FA,” Sven continued.
“They had newly qualified for the World Cup. For some reason, they knew I was sitting on the FIFA football committee”
Regime officials asked him if he could fix them a good group for the upcoming 2010 World Cup.
Sven was gobsmacked by the request, and told them it was impossible.
In return for the multi-trillion dollar mining deal, King had promised North Korea a tanker full of oil from Bahrain.
His plan was to use the deal, and his ownership of Notts County, to drive interest in the stock market listing of another one of his companies and drive up the price.
Had he pulled it off, it would have been one of the biggest corporate frauds the world had ever seen.
They were almost running. Russell couldn’t run, but almost…and that was the last time I ever saw them
Sven-Goran Eriksson
But there was no tanker, no money, and his claimed connections to the Bahraini royal family were lies.
Sven was there to give him credibility – but it would be the last he ever saw of the conman.
“We were sitting in the airport, going back home,” said Sven.
“After a while the plane took off. But then we arrived in Beijing.
“There, [King and his associate], I don’t know where they went.
“They were almost running. Russell couldn’t run, but almost.
“And that was the last time I ever saw them.
King fled to Bahrain, while the club was left in disarray and millions in debt.
Police caught up with him and in 2019 he was extradited and jailed for a separate fraud he had committed in Jersey years earlier.
He was released from prison in 2021.
Read more on the Scottish Sun
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To this day, he has never been charged with any crimes relating to the scandal that took place at Notts County.
King of Lies: Football’s Greatest Con is on Sky Documentaries at 8pm tonight
