Sam Allardyce’s tenure as England manager ended after only 67 days on Tuesday night with the Football Association condemning him for ‘inappropriate’ conduct and a ‘serious error of judgment’ but still sending him away with a seven-figure pay-off.
The 61-year-old was summoned to Wembley on Tuesday after being the target of an embarrassing Daily Telegraph sting that concluded with the former Sunderland boss and his employers mutually agreeing to part company.
Allardyce was subjected to an intense interrogation by FA chairman Greg Clarke and chief executive Martin Glenn, although Sportsmail understands Glenn and FA technical director Dan Ashworth were far less reluctant to lose the manager they only appointed in July.
The 61-year-old has become the shortest-serving permanent England manager in history
Questions put to the FA by the Telegraph that even returned to historical allegations about Allardyce’s former football agent son, Craig, had actually pushed him towards the brink of resignation anyway late on Tuesday afternoon.
But in the end the two parties agreed to split, leaving Wembley bosses in a mess as to which way to turn now.
Gareth Southgate has been promoted from England Under 21 boss to caretaker manager for the next four international games, with the FA considering another ambitious attempt to lure Arsene Wenger away from Arsenal at the end of the season.
The pressure is certainly on Glenn and Ashworth when their own judgment has to be questioned, not to mention the level of due diligence done prior to appointing Allardyce two months ago.
Glenn had admitted after Roy Hodgson’s resignation at the end of a disastrous Euro 2016 campaign that he was ‘not a football expert’ but details of Allardyce’s extensive business portfolio were beginning to emerge on Tuesday night.
They included a Newcastle hotel venture that sees him listed among a group of directors that includes England captain Wayne Rooney and goalkeeper Joe Hart.
Allardyce issued a public apology on Tuesday night as part of his own statement but the shortest tenure of any permanent England manager is likely to represent the most controversial end to a long and largely successful career in football.
The Daily Telegraph film of Allardyce advising undercover reporters, who were posing as Far East businessmen, how to get around the FA’s third party ownership rules was among a number of indiscretions Wembley bosses considered hugely damaging to the reputation of the governing body.
Allardyce, who was later joined at Wembley on Tuesday by his agent Mark Curtis, tried to argue that the undercover reporters were told that any agreement — including the £400,000 ‘keynote speaker’ deal he hoped to secure in addition to his £3million FA salary — had to be approved by his employers.
But the fact that Allardyce had been exposed after only a single game in charge — indeed he was secretly filmed before he had even met his players for his first England training session — was something of which the FA took a particularly dim view.
A statement from the governing body issued on Tuesday night said: ‘The FA can confirm that Sam Allardyce has left his position as England manager.
‘Allardyce’s conduct, as reported today, was inappropriate of the England manager. He accepts he made a significant error of judgment and has apologised. However, due to the serious nature of his actions, The FA and Allardyce have mutually agreed to terminate his contract with immediate effect.
‘This is not a decision that was taken lightly but The FA’s priority is to protect the wider interests of the game and maintain the highest standards of conduct in football. The manager of the England men’s senior team is a position which must demonstrate strong leadership and show respect for the integrity of the game at all times.
‘Gareth Southgate will take charge of the men’s senior team for the next four matches against Malta, Slovenia, Scotland and Spain whilst The FA begins its search for the new England manager. The FA wishes Sam well in the future.’
In a video statement to the FA’s in-house TV channel Glenn said that it had been ‘a very difficult 24 hours’.
He added: ‘In the light of the media allegations that we’ve seen, we’ve concluded — and Sam’s agreed — that his behaviour’s been inappropriate and frankly not what is expected of an England manager, discussing a range of issues from potential contraventions of FA rules through to personal comments that frankly just don’t work when you’re the manager of England.’
A statement from Allardyce said: ‘Further to recent events, The FA and I have mutually agreed to part company.
‘It was a great honour for me to be appointed back in July and I am deeply disappointed at this outcome.
‘This afternoon, I met with Greg Clarke and Martin Glenn and offered a sincere and wholehearted apology for my actions.
‘Although it was made clear during the recorded conversations that any proposed arrangements would need The FA’s full approval, I recognise I made some comments which have caused embarrassment.
‘As part of today’s meeting, I was asked to clarify what I said and the context in which the conversations took place. I have cooperated fully in this regard. I also regret my comments with regard to other individuals.’
Over the coming days the FA will have to meet Allardyce’s recently appointed backroom staff — assistant Sammy Lee, goalkeeping coach Martyn Margetson and part-time coach Craig Shakespeare — to determine their own futures at the organisation.
But Clarke, who was not chairman when Allardyce was interviewed and appointed, may now question whether the FA were aware of the manager’s involvement with a limited liability partnership called Proctor House Newcastle.
Allardyce criticised the FA’s £870million redevelopment of Wembley, branding it stupid
The organisation, which appears to operate a boutique hotel in the north-east, lists assets of around £3.5m and has a string of business partners that includes Allardyce, Rooney and Hart.
In an interview over Allardyce’s departure on Tuesday night, Clarke said: ‘I don’t think it is embarrassing, I think it is rather sad. You have a manager who is doing a good job for the national team but makes some unguarded comments which leads to a situation where his job is no longer tenable. That is sad.
‘Sam was recruited in the right way, all the things that came out happened after he joined us so we could not have found them in due diligence.’
WHAT BIG SAM SAID TO UNDERCOVER REPORTERS
ON ROY HODGSON: ‘He’d send them all to sleep, Roy. Woy. He hasn’t got the personality for it.’
ON WHERE ROY WENT WRONG: ‘Players let him down in the end (at the Euros). I think maybe he was too indecisive. Cast a bit of anxiety over to the players maybe. I mean prior to the Iceland game, he won all 10 qualifiers. We’d drawn with Russia (in the first game), we should have won. We beat Wales, and that was our worst performance. We drew with Slovakia, and we only had to draw with Iceland to get through… he just collapsed.’
ON GARY NEVILLE AND HODGSON ARGUING OVER RASHFORD: ‘They were arguing for 10 minutes about bringing (Marcus Rashford) on (against Iceland), him and Gary Neville. So Gary was the wrong influence for him. ****ing tell Gary to sit down and shut up, so you can do what you want. You’re the manager, you do what you want, not what anyone else (wants).’
ON PLAYERS BEING LEFT OUT FOR THE CLUBS: ‘Can’t play them then. Joe Hart. Jack Wilshere, on the bench for Arsenal. Oxlade- Chamberlain on the bench. You can play them, but they’re not playing for the club. When they’re not playing for the club, they’re just short of match practice.’
ON THIRD-PARTY OWNERSHIP: ‘It’s not a problem… we got (Enner) Valencia in (for West Ham). He was third party owned when we bought him from Mexico.’
ON HIS £400,000 DEAL WITH THE FICTITIOUS FIRM: ‘Keynote speaking, that’s what I’d be doing, keynote speaking. I’m a keynote speaker.’
ON REBUILDING WEMBLEY: ‘They (the FA) stupidly spent £870million on Wembley, so they’re still paying that debt off. They completely rebuilt it. If they’d built it anywhere else, it would have cost about £400m. They completely floored it and then rebuilt the new stadium which is fabulous, but that sort of debt is not really what you want.
‘Most of the money the FA make will go to the interest on the debt.’
ON THE FA:They’re all about making money, aren’t they? You know the FA’s the richest football association in the world? Well, I shouldn’t say that. They’re not the richest at all. What they do is they have the biggest turnover in the world with £325m.’ From DailyMail.