Sam Allardyce makes brutally honest admission about England sack and 67-day tenure

Sam Allardyce has revealed that being sacked from the England job was the "worst" thing to ever happen to him.

The former Bolton boss signed a deal to become England's new man in the hot seat back in July 2016. However, after he was caught in the middle of an undercover investigation into corruption in football he consequently stood down after just 67 days in the job.

At the time, Allardyce admitted he made “an error of judgment” after he was caught in a sting by The Daily Telegraph where he was secretly recorded offering advice on how to sidestep transfer rules laid down by The FA, as well as being filmed negotiating a £400,000 deal with fake businessmen. Speaking on the fallout, the 69-year-old has now lifted the lid on how the affair affected him and how it meant he couldn't watch England for "years" after.

Talking to Sky Sports, the former West Ham boss was in a candid mood as he discussed leaving England and what that meant when it came to watching England in the years following. "It took me years to come around to watching them again," Allardyce said. "It really was the worst thing that ever happened to me in my lifetime, but it happened and there it is."

Allardyce, who is currently without a club after leaving Leeds United last year, also spoke of being "jealous" when he watches the Three Lions and revealed he envied the squad Gareth Southgate has at his disposal. "Supporting England again, and you know I am jealous of course, I think everybody would realise that I never got that squad," Allardyce said.

However, with England now just one game away from reaching the final of Euro 2024, he believes Southgate just needs to go one step further than he has before to be lauded as the joint-best England manager of all time, adding: "Gareth has just got to go one step farther and he's going to be a rival to Sir Alf Ramsay."

Allardyce's time in charge of the national team was the shortest on record after he had just one game in which England beat Slovakia 1-0 in their first qualifier for the 2018 World Cup. Allardyce, who went on to manage Crystal Palace after the incident, was cleared of any wrongdoing, with The Daily Telegraph also stating that it "did not suggest that Allardyce had broken the law".

After the dust had settled on his time with England and the scandal, Allardyce said: “On reflection it was a silly thing to do. It was an error of judgment on my behalf and I’ve suffered the consequences. Entrapment has won on this occasion and I have to accept that.”