The Sun on Sunday has admitted its story claiming a Tory minister intervened to get disgraced England manager Sam Allardyce fired was wrong.
The newspaper had alleged government pressure was exerted on the Football Association (FA) to ditch Allardyce after he was filmed appearing to advise businessmen how to get around rules on transferring players.
It accused sports minister Tracey Crouch of contacting FA chief executive Martin Glenn as news of the sting broke, putting “massive pressure” on the football body to “take action”.
But Crouch, a qualified FA coach and girl’s football team manager, rubbished the claims. She wrote in a post on Twitter:
A source in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport also told The Huffington Post UK that claims Crouch put pressure on the FA or met any executives before Allardyce’s resignation were “untrue”.
They insisted no contact was made with Glenn by the government until after a decision on Allardyce’s future had been made. They also said the online version of the Sun on Sunday article had been removed.
A link on Google to an article headlined ‘Sam Allardyce: The Government put the pressure on the FA to sack England manager after corruption investigation’ leads to the Sun’s online football page.
A spokesperson for The Sun on Sunday told HuffPost UK: “Although the Government did speak to the FA we now accept the conversation happened after Sam Allardyce was sacked.”