THE 16-year-old daughter of Sunderland football club chairman Bob Murray was put under "enormous pressure" at her York school to reveal the name of the club's new manager, the Evening Press can reveal.

Alex Murray came home from Bootham School crying because pupils had harassed her for two days to say who would be Sunderland's new boss.

A source close to the Murray family has revealed that Alex was hassled by her peers, who ran through a list of candidates in a bid to find out that the new manager would be former Leeds boss, Howard Wilkinson.

The source said that Alex revealed nothing about the appointment, but added that pupils may have interpreted her reactions while she was under pressure. Five teachers at the Quaker school cashed in on Mr Wilkinson's appointment, with two members of staff scooping £6,600 each after placing £100 bets at 66/1. Their bets were part of a flurry seen in William Hill shops in York. Alex is an A-level pupil at the school, which has 420 boarders and day pupils and charges £14,500 a year. The source said: "She was put under enormous pressure. She is only 16. She came home from school crying on two separate occasions.

"She kept telling them: 'I can't say, I can't say', and: 'I don't know'. People were asking her if she knew. They were reeling off names in front of her. That's very difficult, especially for a 16-year-old." In a statement yesterday, Mr Murray, who lives at Crayke, near Easingwold, referred indirectly to pressure being placed on his children.

He said: "Whilst my children did not volunteer information, I also accept that some individuals may have tried to interpret their reactions."

Bootham head teacher Ian Small said today: "As a school I feel it would be wrong for us to talk about individual pupils in this matter." He has previously stated that he believed the teachers' bets were a coincidence.

Updated: 15:01 Wednesday, October 16, 2002