Sam Allardyce sting reaction: 'What a fool... It is 50-50 if he will survive'
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Updated 27/09/2016 at 07:29 GMT
England manager Sam Allardyce has been splashed all over the media on Tuesday morning after an undercover sting operation carried out by the Daily Telegraph.
Screenshot of Sam Allardyce from the Daily Telegraph video
Image credit: Eurosport
Most of the major newspapers in Britain have got their top sports writers offering opinion and analysis.
The consensus is that many of Allardyce's comments, particularly the criticisms of Roy Hodgson, Gary Neville and Wembley Stadium, aren't too harmful ("pub talk", in the words of The Sun's Neil Custis), there are two things in particular that stand out.
First is the England manager's willingness to discuss ways to get around rules on third party ownership of players
And second is Allardyce's agreement in principle to a £400,000-a-year deal to act as an ambassador for a fictional company he'd never even heard of.
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Henry Winter, The Times: "Not one of Sam Allardyce’s alleged comments to undercover reporters is enough to bring his dismissal as England manager but the cumulative effect of a succession of ill-judged answers takes him perilously close. His credibility is badly damaged. Big Sam is in big trouble, it is 50-50 if he will survive.
"At the very least, he could be charged by the FA for bringing the game into disrepute. At the very worst, he will be sacked after 90 minutes’ football, and the bookies were hardly holding out too much hope for him last night.
It’s his fault, his folly, his avarice.... Allardyce just seems another member of my creed is greed fraternity.
Matt Lawton, Daily Mail: "After waiting a decade for the job he always craved, Sam Allardyce had not even navigated his way through one game before putting his position in serious jeopardy... It is difficult to see Allardyce surviving this. Difficult to see how he survives the most embarrassing episode for an England manager since Glenn Hoddle said the disabled were paying for the sins of a previous life.
"Allardyce mimicking his predecessor’s speech and trying to cash in on a £3 million-a-year position is so crass that Martin Glenn, Greg Clarke and the rest of the FA board will struggle to come to any other decision than firing him after a solitary victory against Slovakia."
Neil Ashton, The Sun: "It looks bad, Sam. It is bad, Sam. Greedy. And grubby. All the goodwill for England’s head coach has gone. In record time... Allardyce needs a good scrub after this shameful episode.
His judgment has been impaired by the prospect of pocketing £400,000 on the side. He could not wait. He did not wait. Big Bad Sam wanted the money. What a fool...
"Allardyce convinced us all that this was the only job he has ever wanted. He cherished it. Loved it. Craved it. Blew it... What a sad day for Allardyce. Another sad day for English football...
"The ultimate dream, he told us. The pinnacle of his career, he told us. That means nothing now."
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England manager Sam Allardyce poses after the press conference
Image credit: Reuters
Daniel Taylor, The Guardian: "The FA has been thrust into the highly embarrassing position of its most important employee saying it was 'not a problem' to bypass the rules his own organisation had introduced in 2008 [on third-party ownership of players]... it is the comments on the 'ridiculous' third-party transfer rules that the FA will view as the [most] serious matter by some distance."
Martyn Ziegler, The Times: "The sting has shocked senior FA figures with Allardyce only one match into his England reign and Greg Clarke, the governing body’s chairman, has vowed to hold a full investigation.
"It is understood there is a 50-50 chance of the former Bolton Wanderers, Newcastle United and West Ham United manager losing his £3 million-a-year job, so serious are the allegations...
FA insiders are stunned by the apparent stupidity of Allardyce and of his advisers, given that he is in such a high-profile position and a likely target for entrapment.
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