• Former chairman says the FA had no option but to let Sam Allardyce go • Dyke says Roy Hodgson would not have been caught out

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The former Football Association chairman Greg Dyke says the England manager has to be “whiter than white” – and questioned why Sam Allardyce was apparently negotiating a £400,000 payday when he was being paid £3m a year.

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Allardyce’s contract with the FA was terminated by mutual agreement on Tuesday, with the chairman Greg Clarke and chief executive Martin Glenn confirming there was no way back from the 61-year-old’s appearance in a Daily Telegraph investigation.

Dyke told BBC Radio 4’s ‘The World Tonight’ programme on Tuesday: “The FA have made exactly the right decision.

“If you want to be the England manager you have to be whiter than white and I’m afraid what we’ve found out from the Daily Telegraph today is that the person who was the current England manager was not whiter than white – and I don’t think they’ve had any option [other than] to take the action they [have] done.

“This guy was being paid more than £3m a year, so why was he running around trying to find £400,000 from somewhere?

“I’ve talked to a lot of fans about it and everyone feels that if you’re getting £3m a year you don’t need to go and do this.”

Dyke, who held the position of FA chairman from 2013 until earlier this year, believes Allardyce’s predecessor would not have got involved in such a sting.

Roy Hodgson, who was demeaningly referred to as ‘Woy’ by Allardyce, stepped down from the role after England’s Euro 2016 exit at the hands of Iceland.

Dyke continued: “We didn’t have that sort of problem with Roy Hodgson. I think he was whiter than white and straight as a die.”

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The 69-year-old added: “What’s quite clear from what’s happened today is that if Sam Allardyce hadn’t agreed to go he’d have been fired, and rightly so.”

Gareth Southgate will take charge of the England team for the next four matches against Malta, Slovenia, Scotland and Spain while the FA begins its search for the new manager.

As for a possible successor, Dyke added: “I can give you a list of possible successors, whether any of them are available or would do it is a different matter. There was a list and I expect they’ll go back to that list, but if Gareth Southgate takes over for four games he might do very well.”