BIG SAM GOES TO VILLA
With a £1M pay off in his pocket
SHAMED Sam Allardyce jetted to his Spanish villa yesterday blaming “entrapment” not money for his downfall.
The ousted England boss is set to receive a £1m payoff from the FA – despite being in charge for only 67 days and one single match.
SHAMED ex-England boss Sam Allardyce yesterday flew off to his Spanish villa nursing an estimated fortune of £10m.
The disgraced football manager admitted he had made an “error of judgement” in chasing a £400,000 deal to top up his £3million salary as the Three Lions boss.
But he blamed “entrapment” for forcing him to quit after just 67 days and one match.
He stepped down with a £1m pay-off from the FA after undercover investigators, posing as Far East businessmen, secretly filmed him using his position as national team boss to negotiate a £400,000 fee.
But yesterday the football boss insisted his “main motivation was not money”.
He said he had only gone to the meeting to do agent pal Scott McGarvey a “favour” because he was “down on his luck”.
Allardyce added: “I think that on reflection it was a silly thing to do.
“But just to let everybody know I sort of helped out what was somebody I’ve known for 30 years and unfortunately it was an error of judgement on my behalf and I’ve paid the consequences. “Entrapment has won.’’ Allardyce, 61, said he could not “put in to words” how “sad” he was at losing the job of his dreams.
He is understood to have flown to his luxury home near Benidorm – which is named Big Sam’s Villa.
Before he left he said: “I am off abroad just to chill out and to reflect.’’
Asked if that was his last job in football he said: “Who knows? We’ll wait and see.’’
Bentley
But Allardyce, who was raised on a council estate in Dudley, West Midlands, can console himself with a reported £10m fortune and sprawling business empire including 19 company directorships.
He drives a Bentley which he bought at a charity auction and divides his time between his homes in Bolton and Spain.
The nature of many of the companies he helps run are unclear.
But one, which appears to operate a boutique hotel in Newcastle, lists England captain Wayne Rooney and goalkeeper Joe Hart as partners in what FA chiefs may consider a potential team selection conflict of interest.
Karren Brady, vice-chairman of Allardyce’s former club West Ham, said: “I can’t believe that someone would jeopardise the job that they love, that they’ve waited their whole career to do, for a consultancy opportunity or whatever he was doing.”
But Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho said he felt sorry for Allardyce because England was his dream job.