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Days after losing his £3million a year job as England manager, shamed Sam Allardyce is now said to have dollar signs in his eyes.

Friends say he is already thinking about a football comeback – and the US could be the perfect place to secure a big role.

A former colleague said: “If someone gave him an opportunity in the States he’d struggle to turn it down.

“And the way he feels right now I don’t think he’d be too bothered about turning his back on England.”

Big Sam played in the US in 1983 – turning out for the Tampa Bay Rowdies, and later described his short stay in Florida as “life-changing”.

The ex-colleague said: “Sam has spoken a lot about his time in Tampa. He loved it and it really opened his eyes.

“It’s still early days yet, but he hasn’t ruled out a return to football and he would love to give it a crack over there in the US.”

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In his autobiography, called Big Sam, Allardyce spoke of his love for America and his desire to work in the country’s top flight, Major League Soccer.

He said a job in the MLS “appeals”, adding his wife Lynne “might like that”.

Allardyce, 61, lost his England job last week after undercover journalists posing as businessmen filmed him offering advice on how to “get around” transfer rules laid down by the Football Association.

He also negotiated a £400,000 deal for a series of speaking engagements.

And he mocked his predecessor Roy Hodgson’s speech impediment.

(Image: Daily Mirror)

Allardyce’s reign as England manager lasted just 67 days. FA chiefs have agreed to pay him a £1million severance package.

But the FA could yet charge him with bringing the game into disrepute and ban him from football in England.

Disciplinary action will not be considered until police have finished their probe into what has been revealed by the Daily Telegraph’s undercover investigation.

An FA ban would only cover England. It would be up to football’s world governing body FIFA whether to make it global.

(Image: The Telegraph)

In her first comments on the scandal, Culture Secretary Karen Bradley yesterday urged English football to clean up its act.

She told the Sunday Telegraph: “What we’ve seen this week is very, very disturbing, but this is the opportunity to get to the bottom of it... When the police go in, let the police go in. When the taxman needs to go in, let the taxman go in.”

Allardyce, who was last night thought to still be at his villa in Spain where he headed after the scandal broke, described the undercover probe as “entrapment”. But FA chairman Greg Clarke said: “There is nothing wrong with using what techniques you have to use to expose wrongdoing.”