ALLARDYCE STUNG, ENGLAND JOB IN BALANCE
The England football manager gave advice on how to circumnavigate transfer rules, criticised the FA’s decision to rebuild Wembley and mocked his predecessor Roy Hodgson while being secretly filmed by reporters posing as Far East businessmen.
Allardyce, appointed England manager in July on a £3 million-a-year contract, agreed to travel to Singapore and Hong Kong as an ambassador for their fictitious firm for a fee of £400,000.
London, Sept. 27: Sam Allardyce is set for crisis talks with the Football Association on Tuesday as the England manager fights to save his job after being caught in a newspaper sting.
Allardyce gave advice on how to circumnavigate transfer rules, criticised the FA’s decision to rebuild Wembley and mocked his England predecessor Roy Hodgson while being secretly filmed by Daily Telegraph reporters posing as Far East businessmen.
Allardyce, appointed England manager in July on a £3 million-a-year contract, agreed to travel to Singapore and Hong Kong as an ambassador for their fictitious firm for a fee of £400,000.
Senior FA figures were said to be stunned by the revelations and the former Sunderland manager was seen driving away from his home in Bolton, northwest England, early on Tuesday morning amid reports he will speak to his employers as they prepare to launch an immediate probe into the scandal.
The FA has asked the Telegraph to provide them with “the full facts in relation to this matter”, leaving Allardyce in danger of being sacked just one game into his reign.
“I got a call related to the issue and I want the facts in the morning and I will look into it — it is not appropriate to prejudge the issue,” FA chairman Greg Clarke told the Times.
FA chief executive Martin Glenn is said to have spoken to Allardyce on Monday evening. He is reportedly due to talk to him again and will then decide with Clarke whether Allardyce will cling onto his job just 67 days after he was hired.
Allardyce’s problems began when he agreed to meet the undercover Telegraph reporters, who asked if it would be a problem for their fictitious agency to get involved in thirdparty ownership through funding football transfers, which is banned under FIFA rules.
“It’s not a problem. We got (Enner) Valencia in. He was third-party owned when we bought him from Mexico,” Allardyce replied.
The Telegraph reported Allardyce said he knew of certain agents who were “doing it all the time” and added: “You can still get around it. I mean obviously the big money’s here.”
He referred to Hodgson as “Woy” — mimicking his speech impediment.
He also said the FA had “stupidly spent 870 million pounds” rebuilding Wembley.
Allardyce’s controversial comments also included criticising Hodgson’s approach at Euro 2016, saying he was “too indecisive” and “hasn’t got the personality for public speaking”.
He said Hodgson’s assistant manager Gary Neville “was the wrong influence for him. F***ing tell Gary to sit down and shut up, so you can do what you want”.
Allardyce poured scorn on England’s failure at the tournament by saying their players have a “psychological barrier” and “can’t cope”. — AFP