A former manager of Fulham’s women’s team says extra precautions were put in place to protect female players from the club’s late owner Mohamed Al Fayed.

Gaute Haugenes, who managed the team from 2001 to 2003, told the BBC that members of staff became aware that the late billionaire “liked young, blonde girls”.

He said that as a result players were not allowed to be left alone with Al Fayed, who owned the club for 16 years.

On Friday, the Cottagers issued a statement saying they were “deeply troubled and concerned” by the “disturbing” reports about Al Fayed during his time as owner of Harrods.

In a BBC documentary, which aired on Thursday, several women accused Al Fayed of raping them when they worked at the luxury London department store.

Lawyers representing Al Fayed’s accusers told a news conference in London on Friday it was “unlikely” there were not more alleged victims.

“We don’t at this stage represent any women who, for instance, sustained any attacks at Fulham Football Club but our investigations are obviously ongoing into all of these entities that he had an involvement in,” barrister Maria Mulla said.

“It’s highly unlikely that there are not victims out there from these other places of work. Wherever he went, there will be victims.”

Fulham said they were trying to establish whether anyone at the club had been affected, encouraging people to come forward to its safeguarding department or the police.

“I read all the newspapers yesterday of course and to be honest it’s not the biggest surprise,” Haugenes said.

“We were aware he liked young, blonde girls. So we just made sure that situations couldn’t occur. We protected the players.”

Al Fayed bought Fulham for a reported £30m in 1997.

During his tenure as owner, the men’s team rose from the third tier of English football to the Premier League.

He backed a move to make the women’s team fully professional in 2000, the first side in Europe to do so, but they were downgraded to semi-professional in 2003 and funding was withdrawn in 2006.

Haugenes also said that he was paid by Harrods, rather than Fulham, during his time at the club.

“When the payslip came from Harrods it was quite strange. Also, the contract said that they could put me in the food shop in Dublin if that was what I wanted. It would never have happened today,” he said.

In response, Fulham referred to their earlier statement, which said: “We are deeply troubled and concerned to learn of the disturbing reports following yesterday’s documentary. We have sincere empathy for the women who have shared their experiences.

“We are in the process of establishing whether anyone at the club is, or has been, affected.

“Should any person wish to share information or experiences relating to these allegations, we encourage them to contact the club at safeguarding@fulhamfc.com or the police.”

Leigh Leopards: Moylan; McIntosh, Hanley, Leutele, Charnley; O’Brien, Lam; Halton, O’Donnell, Asiata; Amone, Ipape, Mulhern.

Interchanges: Hughes, Trout, Dwyer, Pene

St Helens: Welsby; Makinson, Percival, Mata’utia, Bennison; Lomax, Dodd; Whitley, Batchelor, Knowles; Delaney, Burns, Lees.

Interchanges: Clark, Bell, Paasi, Stephens

Referee: Liam Moore.

Oscar De La Hoya enjoyed UFC 306, but that didn’t change his mind about Dana White.

For the past several years, De La Hoya and White have taken shots at one another through the media over all manner of things. However, if there’s one person in combat sports De La Hoya is on worse terms with, it’s his former fighter Canelo Alvarez. So this past weekend, when Alvarez fought Edgar Berlanga, going head-to-head with “Noche UFC” in Las Vegas on Mexican Independence Day weekend, the boxing Hall of Famer declared he would attend UFC 306 instead of the boxing event.

Apparently De La Hoya did just that, and rather enjoyed himself at Sphere.

“UFC Noche. I was true to my word,” De La Hoya said on Instagram. “I did attend last Saturday. I sat in [Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority] Turki [Alalshikh’s] box upstairs and I have to be honest with you, it was beautiful. It was spectacular. It looked really cool. The production value was there, everything was amazing. The fights were actually really good. So congratulations to Turki for footing the bill on this and making this celebration of the Mexican culture come to life.

“And Dana, I know this wasn’t your idea or vision. Nothing ever is at the UFC. You’re the Fertitta’s errand boy. But I’m always honest and fair, and I want to praise the production. UFC Noche was a good time and I really enjoyed it.”

Part of the production involved in UFC 306 was telling the history of Mexico through several vignettes played on Sphere’s screens. One chapter focused on Mexico’s history in combat sports, which even included De La Hoya.

But while De La Hoya enjoyed UFC 306, the same can’t be said for the Canelo vs. Berlanga fight. The bout received substantial criticism beforehand as Canelo was a massive favorite, and that bore out on Saturday night as Canelo won a wide unanimous decision, even dropping Berlanga in the third round.

Because Canelo was unable to finish Berlanga despite the perceived gap between them, De La Hoya excoriated the pound-for-pound standout.

“As far as the action, I called it in advance. Another fight that went the distance without any truly exciting moments,” De La Hoya said. “Berlanga didn’t win one round! He was never remotely in the fight from the first bell. Is this where boxing is going? The bar has been set so low that fans are just happy to see fighters last 12 rounds? What? Fighters are getting praised for simply going the distance with a 35-year-old Canelo who hasn’t knocked anybody out since 2021. Don’t you all want to see knockouts?

“I’m from a different time in this sport when fighters went to war in the ring. We wanted to destroy our opponents. I still took the [Manny] Pacquiao fight knowing my body was broken and old and I couldn’t beat him, but I was a warrior. I wanted to be a legend. It’s a different mentality, a champion’s mentality. Canelo wants to get paid. He avoids [Joseph] Benavidez and [Dmitry] Bivol who schooled him just like [Floyd] Mayweather. He wants to cruise easily into retirement.

“Where are the fighters who have balls? Don’t we want to see the best fight the best? Why are we, as boxing fans, accepting this low level competition and entertainment?”

De La Hoya previously promoted Alvarez until Canelo left Golden Boy Promotions in 2020. Earlier this year, Alvarez claimed De La Hoya stole money from his fighters which led De La Hoya to threaten legal action in return.

Bath: De Glanville Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Butt, Muir, Russell, Spencer; Obano, Dunn, Stuart, Roux, Ewels, Hill, Reid, Barbeary.

Replacements: Annett, van Wyk, Griffin, Jac du Plessis, Pepper, Schreuder, Bailey, Coetzee.

Northampton: Furbank, Ramm, Dingwall, Hutchinson, Sleightholme, Smith, James; Iyogun, Langdon, Davison, Scott-Young, Munga, Kemeny, Pearson, Graham.

Replacements: Smith, West, Green, Hunter-Hill, Augustus, McParland, Thame, Freeman.

Referee: Luke Pearce

Manchester City host Arsenal on Sunday (16:30 BST) in a mouth-watering match in the Premier League.

But, with fully-fit squads, which Man City and Arsenal players make your combined XI? Ederson or Raya? Rodri or Rice? Saka or Foden? Have a go and share with your friends.