Southgate in as scandal-hit Big Sam leaves England role

GARETH Southgate will lead England into their World Cup qualifiers against Malta and Slovenia after Sam Allardyce departed after only one game in charge.

Allardyce leaves the England role with a 100 per cent record courtesy of a last minute victory over Slovakia, but his England epitaph will simply reflect the embarrassment of being caught up in an undercover sting operation.

After a series  of crisis meetings held by FA executives on September 27 it was announced that Allardyce has quit “by mutual consent” after he appeared to advise Daily Telegraph reporters on how they could “get around” strict third-party ownership rules. 

Allardyce told the reporters that that it was easy to “get round” FA rules and that he knows particular agents “doing it all the time”.

The former Bolton defender and manager, who had confidently declared that he was the man to revive England’s fortunes after a disastrous Euro 2016 campaign, also mocked his predecessor Roy Hodgson in his  taped conversation with reporters he thought were ‘Far-East businessmen’. 

The Telegraph had orchestrated an elaborate sting operation with reporters pretending to represent Singapore-based investors looking to ‘buy’ players under banned third party ownership schemes. 

Football manager said he was “deeply disappointed” and offered a “sincere and wholehearted apology” for his actions.