Allardyce incident a tragedy, says FA chief executive Glenn

Football Association (FA) chief executive Martin Glenn claimed that having to part company with Sam Allardyce was a “tragedy”, acknowledging there are failings within the English game.

The FA were forced to relieve Allardyce of his duties as England manager following allegations of corruption, with the former Sunderland boss having been secretly filmed discussing how clubs could circumvent transfer rules.

But Glenn has insisted the FA went through the correct due-diligence before appointing Allardyce as Roy Hodgson’s replacement, adding that the current crop of England players has all the right tools to achieve success.

“Sam absolutely had the right criteria to be a successful England manager, to work on creating a team spirit and a team identity that I think has been lacking for a while,” Glenn told the Guardian.

“It is a tragedy that we have ended up having to part company with him over the, the – you know – entrapment.

“What happened with Sam was not a skeleton leaping out of a closet. It was a catastrophic error of judgement.

“We know there are failings in the game, of course there are, but there are also a load of good things. We need to look at how we can channel the investment and the goodwill that is there.

“Two generations ago we just weren’t producing technically gifted players. That’s different now. Doubling the player base would be great and I think that will happen in time because English clubs want English players to get through.

“But why does the shirt weigh so heavy? When was the last time we saw an England player play better for his country than his club? That is something we’ve really got to understand.”

Gareth Southgate was handed the England job on a temporary basis following Allardyce’s dismissal, and the FA will not make a decision on a permanent replacement until after the next batch of international fixtures in November.