Sam Allardyce is preparing to sue the Football Association for damages in a dispute over the way it reacted after his removal as England manager last year.
It is understood the FA, including the chief executive, Martin Glenn, and chairman, Greg Clarke, have received a 5,000-word letter from lawyers instructed by the 62-year-old.
Allardyce was effectively sacked as England manager in September last year after a sting operation by the Daily Telegraph in which undercover reporters posed as businessmen. The end-product ran under the headline “England manager for sale”. The FA decided his position was untenable less than 24 hours after the piece was published.
The Daily Mail claims to have seen the legal letter addressed to the FA. Allardyce, who believes the governing body did not wait until the full facts emerged before firing him, is taking action over public comments made by Glenn and Clarke.
Allardyce lost his job over allegations made by the Telegraph that he advised the fictitious businessmen how to circumvent rule about third-party ownership of players.
But his lawyers have obtained a transcript of the recordings, taken over the course of two meetings, and say he did not advise on that matter. Allardyce is furious with comments made by the FA in the wake of his demise. Clarke and the governing body’s communications chief, Robert Sullivan, gave evidence at a hearing about football governance by parliament’s department of culture, media and sport select (DCMS) committee. The FA may feel those comments are protected by parliamentary privilege but Clarke made similar remarks in an interview with the BBC.
On 26 October last year Glenn said: “The issue we had with Sam was that in implying he could help people circumvent the rules, we felt in every other situation in the next few years we would have that thrown back in our face. We have to apply the rules consistently. This would have impaired our ability to do that.”
Clarke and Glenn, together with the FA’s human resources director, Rachel Brace, will appear before the DCMS again on 18 October to give evidence around allegations that the former England Women’s manager Mark Sampson made racial remarks to players. Sampson, who denies making such comments, was sacked almost a year to the day after Allardyce’s exit after it was revealed Sampson had inappropriate relationships with players during his time at Bristol Academy.
The FA has declined to comment.