Yesterday I blogged about Sam Allardyce getting my goat. Former England striker Alan Shearer has bemoaned the state of the beautiful game and the disrepute attached to it due to the actions of men like Allardyce, he's right.
His Match Of The Day colleague Gary Lineker has called for a police investigation. Lineker was a clean player on the pitch and like Shearer makes an honest living as a commentator, I wholeheartedly support the call for a police investigation.
It's not the first time highly paid players or managers have been caught trying to skim a bit more off the top. Where there is corruption there's crime. I've heard the figure of four hundred thousand pounds bandied about and I've heard rumours of a million pound payoff for Allardyce. He reckons he's paying for his 'mistake'. Huh!
If his pay off exists, and you can bet that contractually it does, then the FA should publicly give it to Children In Need, or Cancer Research or McMillan and see if big Sam is big enough not to challenge that decision, he'd become a pariah, even more than he is now.
Lineker is right, there should be a police investigation and former England manager Steve McClaren who has supported Allardyce and said 'it could happen to any of us' should be investigated too, out of his own mouth.
These people live in a different universe from the British football fan working to pay for his or her ticket and the constantly changing strip and club regalia. All the money swilling about in British football attracts corruption.
You can bet someone who doesn't care that Allardyce is corrupt will give him another chance, another highly paid job. It doesn't just get my goat, it's disgusting and fans are too loyal to vote with their feet, but two weeks of empty stadia countrywide might force the FA to think twice.
The position of England Manager is an honour, and a highly paid one at that, even if some Premiership clubs pay even more. The least anyone who lands the job can do is apply themselves to it, not spend time trying to milk it.
Malcolm Snook Writer and Blogger
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