SORRY STATE ROY: Sam never called to apologise for mocking me ALLARDYCE: I have been waiting to do it face to face

I never apologised to Roy personally because I never got hold of him

ROY HODGSON claims Sam Allardyce has never said sorry for mocking his speech impediment – and insists it is too late to apologise now.

The two ex-England managers cross swords at Goodison Park tomorrow for the first time since an undercover sting forced Big Sam to resign as Three Lions boss in September 2016 after one game against Slovakia.

The Everton gaffer referred to his England predecessor as ‘Woy’ and said: “He’d send them all to sleep, Roy. He hasn’t got the personality for it.”

Hodgson, who appeared genuinely hurt discussing the subject, said: “Do you like being insulted? No, not particularly. Did it bother me? I didn’t lose any sleep over it.

“My relationship with him before, I always thought was good. Now I would expect it to be less good. Will I shake hands with him? Of course.”

Although Allardyce said sorry in general to anyone he had offended, Hodgson never received a personal call.

Asked if he would still want Allardyce to apologise face to face, the Crystal Palace boss stated: “No. Far too late. It has gone. It belongs to the distant past.

“In jobs like I am doing at the moment, when you are the manager of a Premier League club, you live very much in the ultimate present and the future.” Allardyce had also accused Hodgson of being “indecisive” at Euro 2016 and said he “collapsed” during the defeat by Iceland.

He added that the England manager should have “f ****** ” told his No.2 Gary Neville “to sit down and shut up”.

Allardyce, forced out of the England job after only 67 days, insisted he has said sorry... several times publicly.

Now he hopes to bury the hatchet when the pair meet on Merseyside – in person rather than over the phone. “I never apologised personally because I never got hold of him, but went out and did it publicly,” he said.

“I’ll hopefully speak to him and see him at the game. A lot of time has passed since that unfortunate situation I was in.”

Allardyce revealed he did try to contact the manager he calls “a friend” after he was stung by undercover reporters.

He said: “If you are going to do something like that and say sorry, I prefer to be private.

“But I’ve never had the opportunity privately to talk about it, which would be better than a conversation on the phone. Hopefully, he will be fine with it.”