Incredible inside story of Leicester City’s notorious La Manga sex scandal revealed – with players in tears, denied food in their cells and one VERY angry wife
Cold and hungry, millionaire footie stars Frank Sinclair, Keith Gillespie and Paul Dickov forced to share Spanish prison cell in mysterious 2004 ‘La Manga affair’
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THE man at the centre of one of English football’s most infamous scandals has broken his silence and lifted the lid on what he dubs his “worst hour”.
Leicester City’s manager Micky Adams claims to still be haunted by the notorious “La Manga affair” which unfolded in 2004 during a five-day training break in a trendy resort south of Alicante.
The nightmare began after players returned to their hotel in La Manga after a night out.
Cops asked to nine of them to report to their police station so they could quiz them about claims made by three German women staying at the resort, reports Mirror Online.
Adams said: “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.”
Detectives were probing allegations that some players forced their way into a room at the Hyatt Regency Hotel while accusations of sexual assault were made against three others.
Defender Sinclair, now 45, faced charges over the alleged attack along with striker Dickov, 44, and winger Gillespie, 42.
When Dickov, the team captain, was led away in cuffs some of the other players broke down in tears.
Adams said: “They’re shoving him through the room and towards the other door. The lads are genuinely gobsmacked."
The trio lay wracked by anxiety in their freezing-cold cell, starving after police confiscated food sent to them by Leicester officials.
"It doesn’t take a genius to work out that the Spanish police had a great feed at Leicester City’s expense," Adams recalls.
The incident even caused trouble at home for centre-half Matt Elliott whose wife allegedly told Adams - after learning about how the accusations involved women - “they can f***ing keep him”.
Meanwhile the club desperately tried to keep the scandal away from the press - although it was soon leaked and news of it went global.
Before long they were being mobbed by the media outside court.
But more than two months after the arrests, DNA evidence proved none of them had sexual contact with the woman, and all charges were dropped.
Yet Adams was so shell-shocked by the affair he offered to quit, and even considered leaving football forever.
The club refused his resignation.
Today he believes that the accusations had been cooked up to gain publicity for the hotel.
But he claims Premier League clubs snubbed him thereafter because “mud stuck”.
Adams, who penned My Life in Football with journalist Neil Moxley, said said the whole episode did still haunt him.
Whenever you type his name in Google details of the affair came up, instead of his efforts saving a club from administration, getting promotion and playing in the Premier League.
He eventually left Leicester a year later before managing Coventry, Port Vale, Brighton, Sheffield United and Tranmere.
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