England warned to be on alert after bugging incident at team hotel

Published on Tuesday 9 March 2010 22:19

ENGLAND officials have been warned to sweep team venues for listening devices on a regular basis to avoid being bugged.

It is understood the Football Association are reviewing security procedures after an apparent secret recording of conversations between England players and coaches before the Egypt friendly came to light. Manchester United employ security personnel to conduct regular sweeps of their dressing rooms after they were bugged four years ago, and England have been told by experts to adopt similar measures.

The FA have yet to make a complaint to the police about the bugging, reportedly at The Grove hotel in Hertfordshire, because they are still waiting to have access to the recording.

They have, however, taken legal steps to ensure the conversations remain under wraps.

SIASS, a private intelligence agency with offices in London, Newcastle and Chester who work for sports teams, companies and foreign governments, said the FA need to organise regular sweeps for bugs.

A SIASS spokesman said: "If they don't already do so, then the people that run the security for England need to sweep for bugs.

"They will have a risk-management strategy in place but they need really high-tech surveillance counter-measures.

"Any listening device can be picked up by a properly trained and experienced operator. We have worked for sports teams before and their sensitive information can be valuable both to opponents and to a scurrilous individual wanting to sell a scoop to the newspapers.

"There are a wide range of listening devices from long- range microphones to frequency-hopping transmission systems to digital devices – but these can all be detected."

Discussions involving England manager Fabio Capello and the squad are understood to have been secretly taped ahead of last Wednesday's match.

Although they have not officially commented, the FA's lawyers have contacted media organisations warning that publication of the contents of the recording would be illegal and a breach of the Data Protection Act and Press Complaints Commission rules.

The secret recording is yet another unwelcome issue for Capello to be faced with in the build-up to the World Cup after the England coach was forced to replace John Terry as captain following revelations about the Chelsea defender's private life.

A spokesman for The Grove hotel expressed surprise, saying: "We have been hosting England for three or four years and provide a very high level of security for them. They also bring their own security team. It would surprise me if they had been bugged here."

Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted news the England team has been bugged was a concern. Ferguson and Manchester United were at the centre of a similar controversy in 2005 when listening devices were found in the home dressing room at Old Trafford after a key encounter with Chelsea.

And, ahead of a World Cup campaign, he thinks the latest development is a worry.

"It happened to us once before," said the Scot. "I would be concerned about it. You have to be.

"Preparation involves discretion and secrecy. I haven't revealed one bit of my tactics ahead of the match tomorrow. I haven't been asked. And do you know why? Because I wouldn't tell anyone. Why should I tell anyone?

"Capello may have been discussing some important issues about his team. All of a sudden someone else has got it. It is a concern."

Meanwhile, England are now ready to win their first World Cup for nearly half a century, according to one of the men who is trying to plot their downfall – Slovenia head coach Matjaz Kek.

Capello's side face Slovenia in the last of their group matches in South Africa and Kek believes the Italian has brought some much-needed discipline to the England ranks, which he believes gives them a good chance of winning the tournament.

"England can win it, they have a lot of the best players in the world in their team," said Kek.

"They're good tactically, have good players and have good discipline. England is one of the best teams in the world and that's why they are one of the favourites for the tournament.

"They have individual quality and now that has been turned from individual quality into team quality. They are a strong team now and that has been down to Fabio Capello."

England have been drawn in Group C with Algeria and USA their other opponents.

SPORT SUBTERFUGE

THE COCA-COLA MAN

During the 1986 World Cup finals in Mexico Scotland were due to play West Germany in their second game. German coach Franz Beckenbauer was anxious to know if Gordon Strachan was going to be fit or not and sent his assistant, Berti Vogts, to the Scotland training session to find out. But Scotland manager Alex Ferguson had made the session private and Vogts couldn't get in. Craig Brown, who was on Ferguson's staff at the finals, takes up the story: "Berti showed great initiative. He had a German team jersey on, and saw these guys pulling barrels of Coca-Cola into the stadium, so he swapped his jersey for the Coca-Cola man's overalls, wheeled a barrel in, watched the whole session, and went back and told Beckenbauer that Strachan was fit. I still call Berti the Coca-Cola man. He likes it, I think."

In the end, Strachan scored against the Germans, but Beckenbauer's side had the last laugh, winning 2-1.

CAMOUFLAGE-CLAD SPIES

In 2005 the touring All Blacks accused England of spying on them. New Zealand coach Graham Henry claimed two men in camouflage were seen filming the Kiwis' closed training session in west London.

But Andy Robinson, England's coach at the time, denied the charge.

McLAREN'S DODGY DOSSIER

The McLaren Formula 1 team were fined $100m and banned from the 2007 Constructors' Championship after they were found guilty of possessing confidential data on their chief rivals, Ferrari.

ALL BLACKS 'POISONED'

Before the 1995 Rugby World Cup final in South Africa, New Zealand coach Laurie Mains claimed a mysterious waitress known as "Suzie" had deliberately poisoned the All Blacks' water in the week before the final. South Africa won the match 15-12.