Former West Brom boss Sam Allardyce reveals all about England hurt and possible management return

Big Sam, who managed West Brom for the second half of the 2020/21 campaign as they suffered relegation to the Championship - was sacked as England boss after just 67 days.

He was caught in an undercover sting making suggestions on how to deal with third party ownership rules - and insisted he was stitched up.

Allardyce lost his job after just one game - and has revealed all about the hurt of losing the biggest job in English football on Kammy and Ben’s Proper Football Podcast.

He explained that the FA were not strong enough - but he can't talk too much in depth because of confidentiality agreements.

He said: "You’ll never forget what they did to you. You’ll never forget that. You’ll have to try and get on with your life, but the times when your mind drifts back to it will always happen. When you’ve been stitched up, you’ve been stitched up good and proper.”

“The FA wasn’t strong enough. I can’t talk too much about that because of confidentiality, but if the FA had been patient for just a couple of weeks it would’ve all seemed to be what it was… because I never broke any third party rules. They actually admitted that in parliament. But that was too late for me.

“I could not believe they were going to give me the job and consider me. To have a chance of managing England after just keeping Sunderland up was just too good for me. Me and Sammy felt good. We did an awful lot behind the scenes to change it the right way, which is what we were told to do. Thinking back, did I upset them too much? Who knows? Did I try and change things too quickly? [That] may be the case. Maybe then they used that as an excuse to get rid of me… I don’t know. You’d have to ask them.

“But we changed so, so much at St George’s Park. They do it now: the first thing we said is you’re going to have to shut the hotel down when we meet up, because the players get claustrophobic and they stay on the top floor and don’t go anywhere. We’re going to all meet in St. George’s. And we’re going to get into building a team to try and win the World Cup, which was very, very exciting.”

“Unfortunately it was cut short for me, which was a great killer blow. [It’s] one you put to the side but you never get over. You’ll never really get over it… but I have got a 100% record though!”

Allardyce suffered a deep depression after being sacked by the FA - but when Crystal Palace were in the mud the Eagles came calling.

After Palace it was Everton then his attempt to save West Brom from the drop proved a step too far - but despite being out of the game since 2021, he has not ruled out a return to the dugout.

He added: "Never say never. I’m never going to say never now, whatever might happen. If it feels right and I fancy it, then I’ll have a go.”