Stuck in middle of a Gregs sandwich
REWIND 24 hours from the “sting” that cost him his job. Big Sam is holding court in a room full of people he barely knows. Beer is flowing. Colourful tales are being told about the previous regime and his current crop of players.
Only this time, the England manager knows the people he is talking to are journalists. Having appointed Allardyce, the FA wanted to give them a first-hand blast of the Big Sam effect they had bought into.
Here was the larger-than-life character who was going to breathe energy into a national team at its limpest ebb. And so what if some of the comments were a little disrespectful? Much of what had gone on in the summer had been worthy of disrespect.
Journalists headed into the night confident of a brighter footballing future. Some of the magic was already rubbing off.
And yet seeing those same conversations through the grainy lens of a hidden camera as the England manager prostituted himself for £400,000 of speaker’s fees was ugly.
However, while Allardyce’s greed is inexcusable, there was nothing substantively wrong with anything he said. It was just tawdry. A man who finds loopholes on the field to exploit every possible advantage to his side was boasting that he knew where the same dodges exist off the field. Wholly wrong, worthy of the sternest rebuke from the people who employed him, but then let’s knuckle down and win some more football matches.
Allardyce’s problem, the reason a settlement was reached, was that he was caught in the middle of a Gregs sandwich. The 61-year-old was the appointment of a regime led strategically by chirpy cockney Greg “we’re gonna win the World Cup in 2022” Dyke, whose priority was getting a performing England side. As long as the manager got the results, he was bullet-proof.
But yesterday he was judged by the more measured regime of new chairman Greg Clarke. Integrity is again the focus and the well-being of the game. Backing Allardyce yesterday would have seen Clarke put all his chips on black – or very dark grey at best. Why should he take such a risk of more indiscretions to embrace a man who is so dyed-in-the-wool?
Now Clarke must oversee the appointment of a more “appropriate” England manager with the team’s fortunes at a lower ebb than ever.
Clarke regards the countdown clock at St George’s Park towards Dyke’s aspirational World Cup success as “daft”. It doesn’t stop it ticking, though.
Integrity is now the focus