Extremely callous, is what I would call it. With what he's said, caught red-handed in video, it's not at all hard to fathom he would tell anyone a step-by-step guide to fix a game, for example. FA did the right thing sacking him.
4
Oi, another braggadocious imbecile! Pride goeth before a fAllardyce....
4
"He turned to the news media in the room. “So bring it on, lads.” "
See: Hart, Gary.
See: Hart, Gary.
7
It seems to me The Telegraph knew Big Sam better than he knew himself. Apparently there was smoke around Allardyce and so he became a mark. Greed got the better of his 'judgement'. 'Entrapment' - yeah right, he walked/ran straight into it having just got the job he coveted to only be drawn like a moth to a flame with the chance to make ridiculous amounts of easy money. He couldn't wait to capitalise on the golden ticket he'd just been given. Really quite Shakespearian in its exposure of human frailty in the face great riches. The FA should have been more diligent. There's just too much money in the game for weak characters to resist.
7
To those who would blame the players and not management for England's lack of success, look at Iceland, or Wales, or even Trinidad and Tobago. Those teams all punch above their weight. England just has to stop confusing the Premier League with the national team. It needs to think of itself as an underdog -- or recognize that it actually is.
5
Ironic that a 'beautiful' game that rewards players for faking and staged diving attracts dishonest leaders around the world - wait - that is not ironic at all.
4
A superbly written article!
2
England and the English have sneered at corruption at soccer leagues in the rest of the world for the longest time in the belief that they were above it. Corruption in Italy - off course, that's the Italians for you. In Spain - that's how the Spanish work. Well as it turns out England's coach was for sale and if the report is to be believed, quite a few other managers in the Premier league. Not so special now, are you?
2
Kali, as an Arsenal fan, I am grateful that George Graham being fired for taking "bungs" opened the door to hire Arsene Wenger. Wenger is out of contract at the end of this season. Why doesn't the FA get a proven quality manager with both integrity and a proven track record for blooding and trusting youth?
1
So many things can be said. The beauty of the game itself on the pitch has been sullied for years by the actions of so many off the pitch. Big Sam getting what appears to be into his cups to show off and be important to the people who snared him is minor in relation to Blatter and FIFA. However, it is a repulsive cartoon to watch.
The game endures. It always will. It's the operators sucking it dry for cash one hopes whom will vanish. Vain hope?
Most likely. If the barely competent FA is the true beacon of honesty in the system, hope flickers dimly indeed.
The game endures. It always will. It's the operators sucking it dry for cash one hopes whom will vanish. Vain hope?
Most likely. If the barely competent FA is the true beacon of honesty in the system, hope flickers dimly indeed.
1
If this job is so impossible, maybe they should stop hiring big-name coaches from the top level who carry a big target on their back, and try someone who flies a little under the radar. For example, let the interim manager and U-21 coach they appointed yesterday have the job and see what happens.
2
Gareth Southgate was Middlebrough manager the last time they were relegated from the Prem, I believe. He's hardly unknown.
1
Oh, for the days of Bobby Charleton!
1
The guy broke the `Gary Hart Rule': Don't challenge the press to find dirt.
5
Given the amount of fraud, racketeering, and money laundering that was shown to the public in 2015 why would anyone be surprised by this?
It's about as surprising as hearing of doping in cycling.
It's about as surprising as hearing of doping in cycling.
3
On the one hand I suppose we shouldn't be necessarily all that surprised since a look around confirms that relentless greed seems to inform all global business activities these days -- con men and crooks are never in short supply and hubris foster's the belief that the rules do not apply to them. How disheartening and sad...>
3
Some people are defending him and accusing the journalists of being crass. They were probably the same folks blasting Sepp Blatter not long ago.
Shameless hypocrites.
Shameless hypocrites.
After Brexit, I like to think of England as being doomed in all things :)
6
"It refused in 2010, for example, to bid for World Cup tournaments it would not win anyway until Sepp Blatter and his cronies were ousted in Zurich."
I don't think that is the whole truth. More like the FA was willing to play the same ethically dubious game as everyone else until they lost the 2018 world cup bid, upon which they threw their toys out of the pram.
If they were truly a "moral beacon" they wouldn't have bid in the first place.
Or, at the very least, they could have at least listened to the BBC and other outlets reporting on corruption at FIFA in the run up to the bid vote.
Instead the FA chose to admonish them as "unpatriotic".
I don't think that is the whole truth. More like the FA was willing to play the same ethically dubious game as everyone else until they lost the 2018 world cup bid, upon which they threw their toys out of the pram.
If they were truly a "moral beacon" they wouldn't have bid in the first place.
Or, at the very least, they could have at least listened to the BBC and other outlets reporting on corruption at FIFA in the run up to the bid vote.
Instead the FA chose to admonish them as "unpatriotic".
4
And, of course, the Brit media is held totally innocent in all of this.
What a tempest in a tea pot. My prediction: the world will keep on turning.
1
Maybe someone who runs a primary school team. The players are, at best, that mature. I guess the FA thought hiring someone even more immature would make their squad look better?
Dirty tricks by the English media, again, designed to trip one up, and what else is new? Why does this strike me as much ado about nothing? I think few of us can claim to be "perfect saints" 100% of the time -least of all the clowns at the FA.
Another "Brexit".
Sad, that so much individual English talent on the field has gone to waste as a national team for decades due to poor management or unifying leadership.
Sad, that so much individual English talent on the field has gone to waste as a national team for decades due to poor management or unifying leadership.
2
The FA had lost the plot along time ago. This, though not predictable, is not surprising. It is unfortunately another setback for the national team.
I do not care a fig about the national team, but do care and love the premier league and am fearful that the ineptitude demonstrated by the FA will make its presence felt their.
Big Sams' histrionics was his downfall.
I do not care a fig about the national team, but do care and love the premier league and am fearful that the ineptitude demonstrated by the FA will make its presence felt their.
Big Sams' histrionics was his downfall.
1
Hubris.
Not only in Allardyce, but in the F.A., and all of English football, as they all hold the belief that English football is the epitome of the game. It hasn't been for decades, but that doesn't dim the light of the true believers.
In a country where every person who follows the game believes fervently that they know more than anyone else - especially the coaches - what do you expect? The only solution to their continued slide downward is a large dose of humble pie, and an honest admission that they aren't really as great as they think they are. This assessment, coming from a Yank of all people, will likely be dismissed as heresy, but those who would do so should remember what happened to those who doubted the Earth revolved around the Sun.
Not only in Allardyce, but in the F.A., and all of English football, as they all hold the belief that English football is the epitome of the game. It hasn't been for decades, but that doesn't dim the light of the true believers.
In a country where every person who follows the game believes fervently that they know more than anyone else - especially the coaches - what do you expect? The only solution to their continued slide downward is a large dose of humble pie, and an honest admission that they aren't really as great as they think they are. This assessment, coming from a Yank of all people, will likely be dismissed as heresy, but those who would do so should remember what happened to those who doubted the Earth revolved around the Sun.
5
You are right, as a life-long football fan in England from before the Premier League existed, people in England get carried away that the size of TV revenue and worldwide viewing figures makes English football the best in the world, it is not.
I thought losing to Iceland was the lowest point, now we just see more English football people interested in taking money as opposed to excellence on the field. Editor’s note: This comment has been anonymized in accordance with applicable law(s).
I thought losing to Iceland was the lowest point, now we just see more English football people interested in taking money as opposed to excellence on the field. Editor’s note: This comment has been anonymized in accordance with applicable law(s).
2
Good riddance. From West Ham to Sunderland to the England job... I never quite understood how this man kept getting hired. On one level I get it; he's very good at taking bad teams and making them average enough to survive relegation. That however is hardly the benchmark by which any putative England manager should be measured, and it's hardly the stuff of inspiration, let alone aspiration, as would befit the English FA's goals.
18
england are NOT a good soccer team. english players are highly-overrated, and the EPL is only great because of the high quality foreign players. england supporters just don't understand, or even see, this though...ultimately, there is no managerial solution, the because problem is the players.
5
What about Vicente del Bosque--that's a great, honest coach!
2
Well there's the problem. Pep Guardiola wanted the job and the FA thought itself too good for him, but Allardyce was qualified? They'll never win anything again with that mystical thinking.
20
Unbelievable that he could screw up that opportunity after only one game in charge. He should have known better than to speak so freely in his position. Back to the drawing board for the England team.
12
Sadly, Julie, they don't even have a drawing board.
Germany and Spain have tens of thousands more qualified coaches than we have in England and the game is stifled by the preposterously over rated Premier League.
The sheer mathematics of probability means that we breeze through qualifying for tournaments while never having the quality to shine when there.
As for England's identity - most of us search for it in vain with our fingers over our horrified eyes.
Germany and Spain have tens of thousands more qualified coaches than we have in England and the game is stifled by the preposterously over rated Premier League.
The sheer mathematics of probability means that we breeze through qualifying for tournaments while never having the quality to shine when there.
As for England's identity - most of us search for it in vain with our fingers over our horrified eyes.
10
Well said. Very well said.
Game, match won.
Game, match won.
2