Sven-Göran Eriksson was named as Barclays Manager of the Month for August yesterday, but his spectacular start to life at Manchester City seemed a distant memory as he was left bewildered by the “stupidity” of Stephen Ireland, who confessed to having been tangled in a web of deceit over his withdrawal from the Ireland squad in Bratislava last weekend.

Ireland admitted yesterday that he had lied to both Eriksson and Steve Staunton, the Ireland manager, when claiming that his grandmother had died. The midfield player confessed that he and his girlfriend had made up the story so he could leave the national team after their 2-2 draw away to Slovakia last weekend, thus missing the 1-0 defeat by the Czech Republic in Prague on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old said that the real reason for his departure was to be with his girlfriend after she suffered a miscarriage. That has earned him sympathy from both club and country, with the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) saying that it would have let him go home to be with his girlfriend if he had told the truth, but Eriksson expressed disappointment at the player’s “stupidity” in lying not only to Staunton but also to City, having remained on compassionate leave yesterday for a bereavement that a deeply suspicious FAI had discovered to be fictitious.

“I totally agree that it is stupidity,” Eriksson said. “I think whatever problem you have in life, when you talk to your club manager or your international manager, you should always keep to the truth. You shouldn’t come with lies because that is stupid.

“It’s a stupid thing to do. If I was the manager of the Ireland team, I would be disappointed that he didn’t tell me the truth. It is also a club matter because all our international players came back on Thursday and he was the only one who was not there. If he didn’t have that problem, he should have been with us on Thursday. I want to speak to him on Saturday morning and then it’s finished. He must not be crucified for this.”

Ireland admitted his “deep regret” over his lies, which began after he was told by Staunton in Bratislava that his girlfriend had called the FAI to inform him that his grandmother had died. “My girlfriend was distraught and explained that she had just suffered a miscarriage,” Ireland said in a statement. “Jessica said she was very lonely and wanted me to come home. She thought they might let me home quicker if they thought my grandmother had died. I told the manager that my grandmother had died and I wanted to go home immediately.”

Ireland told the FAI that the name of his deceased grandmother was Patricia Tallon, but, after reading of her “death” in an Irish newspaper, she declared herself “still alive and kicking”. Staunton asked Ireland whether this was correct, at which point the player “told him there had been a mistake and that it had been my father’s mother, Brenda Kitchener, and that she lived in London”.

When the FAI managed to ascertain that his paternal grandmother was also alive, Ireland decided to tell the truth. Yesterday he expressed his “profound apologies” to Staunton, the FAI, his Ireland teammates, City and above all “to my grandmothers and all my family for any distress I have caused them”.

Staunton must now decide whether to call up the player for Ireland’s qualifying matches at home to Germany and Cyprus next month, although he expressed sympathy yesterday. “Stephen unfortunately made a poor judgment call because of the traumatic circumstances he found himself in,” he said.

- Micah Richards, the 19-year-old defender, has been named Barclays Player of the Month for August and is in contention to captain Manchester City for the first time at home to Aston Villa tomorrow. Sven-Göran Eriksson, the City manager, said that Richards is a prime candidate to lead the team in the absence of Richard Dunne, who is suspended.