Chief executive Martin Glenn has suggested Sam Allardyce might not have lost his job if the FA’s sole responsibility was the England team.
Allardyce’s spell as the national manager began in July and was over before the end of September following an investigation into corruption conducted by the Daily Telegraph.
The 62-year-old was filmed telling undercover reporters it was “not a problem” to bypass rules on third-party player ownership and claimed he knew of agents who were “doing it all the time”.
Following his departure, Allardyce said he “made a significant error of judgement” but that “entrapment had won”.
Glenn, who was part of the decision-making process regarding Allardyce’s fate, insists the FA had no other option to let him go and it was the right decision to do so, but said it may have been a different scenario at club level.
“Had we only been responsible for the England team, we might have taken a different decision about Sam,” said Glenn.
“If we were in a club situation you might say ‘well the club is more important, it’ll be fine and we’ll get over it’.
“But the issue we had with Allardyce was that in implying he could help people circumvent the rules, because we are in charge of running the game and enforcing the rules of the game and, if you like, the law maker and law enforcer, it would have impaired our ability to do that.
“In any 50-50 call we might have to make with a club or a player in the future, we’d then have that thrown back at us.”
Asked if he was satisfied with how the FA had dealt with the situation, Glenn said: “Yes. I think it was a tough decision but we were decisive and we didn’t kind of kick it into the long grass and have a three-month enquiry.
“It was pretty clear and we took the decision on the basis of the things I’ve just outlined. It was right for the interests of football.”
The English FA is no nearer a decision on whether Allardyce will face further sanctions following his dismissal as England manager, with Glenn adding: “We are still waiting for all the information and as soon as we have that we will then conduct our own investigation.”