Neil Ashton: Sam Allardyce should’ve kept his eye on the ball after landing England job… not cash

The England manager must come into the job with clean hands.

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But the Telegraph, with their powerful investigation, have exposed the dirt under his fingernails.

Allardyce needs a good scrub after this shameful episode.

His judgment has been impaired by the prospect of pocketing £400,000 on the side.

He could not wait. He did not wait. Big Bad Sam wanted the money.

What a fool.

Allardyce convinced us all that this was the only job he has ever wanted.

He cherished it. Loved it. Craved it. Blew it.

In his defence, he will tell us that he never got to count out the cold, hard cash.

If the Telegraph had followed through with their extravagant package, it would have been wired to his current account in record time.

To offer to guide the Telegraph’s investigation team through the murky world of third party ownership is another stain on his character.

He should have left all that stuff behind when he quit Sunderland to become England’s head coach.

For some managers, the politics of player trading is irresistible. As if he needed reminding, it is not his business any more.

What a sad day for Allardyce. Another sad day for English football.

England’s painful last-16 exit to Iceland at Euro 2016 sapped the spirit and the energy out of the country’s football fans.

Never again, we said.

Big Sam told us the England job was the one he wanted.

The ultimate dream, he told us. The pinnacle of his career, he told us. That means nothing now.

He is paid £2.5million a year to be in charge of the national team. Plenty enough.

Shamefully he has put his position — an ambassadorial one and a prestigious one — at risk.

What is clear is that he could not wait to get his hands on a nice little earner on the side.

To use his powerful position. To abuse his powerful position.

That is not the job of the England manager.

When Roy Hodgson was approached by watchmaker Hublot — where his son works as a designer — he asked permission from the FA first.

The rose gold piece was a freebie, with one designed for the World Cup in 2014 and another for the disastrous Euros last summer.

On both occasions, because there was no financial inducement, Hodgson was given permission to accept the gift.

How Allardyce will wish he could turn back the clock now.

It is not becoming of an England manager to mock his predecessor by using a cruel nickname — ‘Woy’ — for Hodgson.

That alone merits a private apology to England’s former head coach.

As for the rest of it, such as his criticism of Gary Neville, it is, for the most part, pub talk.

Tittle-tattle, the sort of thing most observers would agree with after a disastrous showing at Euro 2016.

The rest of it reads very much like an exclusive interview, sharing the sort of view most England supporters would agree with.

It is the shady stuff that the FA will have a serious problem with.

Taking your agent and a lawyer to a business meeting is not a defence — it makes it worse.

By taking them along to meet the bogus money men, it suggested Allardyce was up for doing a bit of business.

He wanted to get down to the nitty gritty, to thrash out terms and see what he could get away with.

To make matters worse, he had only just got the Three Lions job.

As if he needs reminding, this is the most privileged position in the country’s national sport.

It is not an open invitation to make as much money as humanely possible until England are booted out of another tournament. Eyes on the job, fella.

It is not as if it is not big enough after the country’s failure to get past Iceland in the finals back on June 27.

This is a full-time job, Sam, with massive responsibilities.

One of them is to respect the position. He has not done that.