The Football Association decided that Sam Allardyce had to go as England manager following the revelations in a Daily Telegraph investigation because it is “the guardian of the game” and he had fallen below the standards expected.
Allardyce’s private apology in talks, and his offer to make a public one, for his ill-judged remarks were not enough to save him after a day of intense discussions. His tenure was effectively ended around 4pm with a formal announcement delayed until closer to 8pm once the details were agreed.
Crucially, Allardyce will still face an FA inquiry into the comments he made during the investigation, specifically on third-party ownership and offering advice to businessmen on how to get around the governing body’s rules on transfers.
Allardyce knew once a conference call had taken place on Monday evening with FA chief executive Martin Glenn and chairman Greg Clarke that he was unlikely to keep his job. The odds dwindled dramatically yesterday with the reaction to the Telegraph’s story.
Clarke said last night: “I don’t know whether he has broken any rules or not because the FA disciplinary department will investigate.”
Clarke, who has only just taken over at the FA, and was not involved in appointing Allardyce, is understood to have taken a particularly dim view of the new manager’s actions. He added: “The issue for us was one of our employee’s behaviour and whether he could carry on as England manager having said some of the things he said on television. He admitted that his behaviour was foolish and put his position in jeopardy.”
Allardyce travelled down to London, leaving his home in Bolton at 7am yesterday, for face-to-face talks with Glenn, Clarke and the FA’s technical director, Dan Ashworth, at Wembley Stadium. It soon transpired that he would not be allowed to resign but would have to leave by “mutual consent”.
If he had not agreed to that terminology he would have been sacked just 67 days after taking what he termed his “dream job” on a £3 million-a-year contract plus bonuses.
Allardyce left Wembley without speaking, although he later released a brief statement. Glenn described the 61-year-old as “distraught” and said he “accepts he made a terrible error of judgment”.
Glenn added: “In light of the media allegations that we’ve seen, we’ve decided, and Sam has agreed, that his behaviour has been inappropriate and frankly not what is expected of an England manager, discussing a range of issues from potential contravention of FA rules through to personal comments that frankly just don’t work if you are England manager.”
Those covered derogatory remarks about his predecessor Roy Hodgson, assistant Gary Neville, the England team and the FA, even including its president, Prince William.
Allardyce becomes the first England manager since Kevin Keegan in 2000 to depart the position during an active qualifying campaign – having taken charge of just one game, away to Slovakia earlier this month.
It is also the shortest reign of a permanent England manager, with an embarrassed FA now turning to Under-21 coach Gareth Southgate to take charge of next month’s World Cup qualifiers at home to Malta and away to Slovenia and the two more matches before the end of this year – another qualifier at home to Scotland and the friendly against Spain.
If successful Southgate has every chance of taking the job on a permanent basis with the FA now left in a humiliating position and with a dearth of candidates.