Former England manager Sam Allardyce: Entrapment has won on this occasion

Standard Sport28 September 2016

Sam Allardyce this morning claimed 'entrapment has won on this occasion' as he spoke publicly for the first time since losing his job as England manager.

Allardyce spoke to reporters outside his home in Bolton just hours after his contract as Three Lions boss was torn up following the undercover newspaper investigation that revealed him advising on how to get around payment rules for transferring players.

The 61-year-old and the FA mutally agreed on Tuesday night to terminate his contract as England manager.

Allardyce - who is now about to go on holiday to "reflect" about what had happened - said he met with the undercover reporters posing as businessman for a Far East firm as a favour for a friend and conceded he had been unwise.

He said: "Obviously I have to do this before I go away. On reflection it was a silly thing to do.

“I was trying to help someone out I knew for 30 years and unfortunately it was an error in judgement on my behalf.

“Entrapment has won on this occasion.”

In Pictures: Sam Allardyce's managerial career

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Asked about his talks with senior FA officials on Tuesday which ultimately spelt the end of his England tenure, Allardyce said: “The agreement was done very amicably, I apologised to the FA and to all concerned for the unfortunate situation that I put myself in.

“I have a confidentially agreement lads, I can’t answer any more questions just now, I’m going on holiday to reflect.

"I would like to wish Gareth and all the rest of the England lads the very best."

Allardyce - whose England tenure amounted to 67 days and just one game - was secretly filmed by the Daily Telegraph's investigations team in August and appeared to tell the group claiming to represent a Far East business that there are ways around rules prohibiting third-party ownership of players.

In the footage, Allardyce also criticises former England coach Gary Neville, while mockingly referring to his predecessor Roy Hodgson, who suffers from the speech problem rhotacism, as "Woy".

It is also alleged he used his position as England manager to verbally agree a £400,000 business deal to fly out to Singapore and Hong Kong to be a keynote speaker.

Allardyce repeatedly told the undercover reporters that he would need to get clearance from his bosses at the FA before any deal could be finalised.

Asked on Wednesday morning if he would get back into management, the former England boss added: “Who knows, we’ll wait and see.”

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