Inside story of Leicester City's infamous La Manga sex scandal and furious player's wife who said cops could keep him

The inside story of a sex scandal which saw nine
football stars arrested is revealed today by the man
whose career nosedived after the mysterious episode.
Micky Adams is haunted by the “La Manga affair” and
regards the 2004 police probe into his Leicester City
players his “worst hour”.
He reveals how he phoned the wives and girlfriends of
each of the nine arrested – and how one told him:
“Good. They can f*****g keep him.”
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Millionaire stars Keith Gillespie, Frank Sinclair and
Paul Dickov were reduced to sharing a freezing
Spanish prison cell after allegations which shook
English football to the core.
Even after being freed, they spent months under
suspicion before being cleared of rape and sexual
assault charges against three holidaymakers.
Now, in a new book charting his time at the top, 55-
year-old Adams details the devastating impact it had
on the game, the club and his stars.
He reveals how:
Adams, who wrote My Life in Football with Mirror
Group journalist Neil Moxley, says: “It really does
haunt me.
"I’d like to be remembered as a decent manager, but
when you look up ‘Micky Adams Leicester City’, what
comes up?
“It’s not saving a club from administration. It’s not
getting promotion. It’s not playing in the Premier
League. It’s La Manga.”
The drama began shortly after his team touched down
in March 2004 for a five-day training break in La
Manga, the trendy resort south of Alicante.
All hell broke loose after a night out when nine of
them were taken for questioning amid lurid claims by
three German women staying at the resort.
There were allegations against some players of a
forced entry into a room at the Hyatt Regency Hotel
and sexual assault accusations against three others.
Defender Sinclair, now 45, eventually faced charges
over the alleged attack, along with striker Dickov, 44,
and winger Gillespie, 42.
But more than two months after the arrests all
charges were dropped.
DNA evidence proved none of them had sexual
contact with the women.
But Adams was so shaken that he offered to quit and
contemplated walking away from football for good.
The club rejected his resignation.
But Adams, who was a defender with the likes of
Southampton during his playing career, says his days
in top-tier management were numbered.
Premier League clubs snubbed him because the “mud
stuck”.
Revealing how the drama unfolded, he tells how he
was at the hotel – staying off booze to protect a
damaged liver – while the players were on a night
out.
The allegations surfaced the next day and the team
attended a Cartagena police station for questioning.
Adams says: “As soon as we sat down, two armed
guards came and stood in front of the doors.
“It was clear it was no longer a laughing matter. No
one was now allowed to leave the building.”
Midfielder Steffen Freund, 47, was freed after he
admitted having consensual sex with a woman.
But the mood darkened when cops led Dickov back
into the room after interrogating him.
Adams goes on: “He’s bent forward, arms behind his
back in handcuffs, with two mean coppers pushing
him around.
“They’re shoving him through the room and towards
the other door. The lads are genuinely gobsmacked.
“Then, one by one, they all go in – and they all come
out handcuffed.”
He reveals how he rang players’ partners to tell them
of the arrests.
He says striker James Scowcroft, 41, burst into tears
after learning his other half knew about false
allegations against him.
But Adams also reveals a surprising reaction from the
wife of 6ft 3ins centre half Matt Elliott after he told
her there had been “an incident” on the trip.
She asked the manager: “Let me stop you there.
Does it involve women?”
Adams says he told her: “Well, er, sort of, but I’m not
really sure he’s been involved.
"But I’m just ringing you to let you know that he won’t
be in touch for a day or so because he’s, er, been
arrested.”
Elliott’s wife hit back: “Good. They can f***ing keep
him. They can lock him up.”
Then the phone went dead. The surreal exchange did
at least lighten the mood – but only briefly.
For it emerged that while Sinclair, Dickov and
Gillespie lay worried in their cell Spanish police had
confiscated food sent to them by Leicester officials.
Adams reveals: “We arranged for the hotel to put
together a load of grub and blankets and send it to
the police station where we were assured the lads
would be fed.
"Yeah, right. To this day, I don’t know what happened
but not one of the players saw so much as an apple.
“It doesn’t take a genius to work out that the Spanish
police had a great feed at Leicester City’s expense.”
Club chiefs managed to keep the story quiet for two
days. When it did leak out, media manager Paul Mace
told staff to “blank everyone”.

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