The FA have dealt with Allardyce scandal by the book

The role of England manager has been called 'the impossible job', such is the weight of expectation placed on the shoulders of the national coach. 

Yet managers of the stature of Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello have taken it on because of its importance on the world stage. 

The revelations that broke this week in the Daily Telegraph were as damning as they are embarrassing and there really was little Sam Allardyce could do to salvage the situation. 

He revealed in meetings with undercover reporters, posing as businessmen, that he could represent them to Far East investors and speak at events.

He then spoke about third party ownership and how to sidestep the rules to make money from transfers, something outlawed by the game at national and international level.

Criticising the management style of his predecessor, Roy Hodgson and his assistant Gary Neville not to mention the Football Association themselves for “stupidly” spending £870m on rebuilding Wembley is in itself a miscalculation.

To make pejorative comments about Prince William, the President of the FA, as well as his brother, Prince Harry, further adds to the embarrassment.

Such indiscretion was a huge error of judgement and effectively left the FA with no choice but to sack the man they had appointed only two months previously.

It’s worth noting that Allardyce did say that any business arrangements he agreed to would need to be signed off by the FA, but that was a minor positive in a catalogue of misjudgements.

As the former FA Chairman Greg Dyke said, the England manager has to be "whiter than white" and it would be hard not to conclude that ego and greed, let alone a lack of diplomacy, are dominant traits in the Allardyce persona.

To be fair to him, Allardyce held his hands up, admitted to making a huge error of judgement and underlined how important he understands it is to be the England coach in a statement he made via the FA.

But that was never going to be enough to save his job, particularly given the risk that more revelations may have appeared that turn Allardyce into a sideshow that distracts from England’s primary objective of qualifying for the World Cup in 2018.

When Calacus undertakes crisis communication planning and media training for our clients, we underline the importance both of reacting quickly but neither speculating nor making snap decisions that they may live to regret.

That said, FA Chairman Greg Clarke has played this by the book, reacting quickly to media scrutiny without jumping to premature conclusions. 

Having only just appointed Allardyce and with World Cup qualifiers around the corner, Clarke made himself available to the media as soon as the story broke.

He rightly stated that they want to undertake a full investigation before taking any action, mindful no doubt that a knee-jerk reaction could have far-reaching consequences.

In an era where coaches are hired and fired with alarming regularity, the FA has always sought to give its coaches time, particularly given the pressure and constraints that they face in the role.

Clarke’s reaction bought the FA some time to provide a measured response. That they acted decisively to sack the man who they only appointed in the summer and again made themselves available for media at Wembley once the announcement had been made.

"We are the guardians of the game. It's the right decision to protect the integrity of the FA," said FA Chief Executive Martin Glenn on the in-house FA TV channel, and to their credit, the governing body have dealt with this sorry affair impeccably.