AND to think everyone thought Big Sam was going to be a lucky manager. A 95th minute winner from Adam Lallana saw England rack up three points against Slovakia in Sam Allardyce's only match in charge, yet here were are - some 67 days after it started - writing the obituaries for the Allardyce era. Played one, won one, made one colossal error of judgement.

When you are England manager, sometimes winning football matches seems to be the least important aspect of the job. History is littered with successful so-called great football men who didn't cut the mustard for non-footballing reasons and Allardyce yesterday joined an illustrious list.

Terry Venables took England to the semi-finals of Euro 1996 and a Paul Gascoigne stud of making the final, only to resign when it was perceived that upcoming court cases relating to his business affairs would be too much of an embarrassment to his paymasters at the FA.

Read more: Sam Allardyce's reputation is in ruins after he quits England job in shameThe Herald:

Glenn Hoddle is still paying for the sins of his past life, after entrusting a strange Rasputin-like confidence in faith healer Eileen Drewery and revealing his belief that disabled people were being punished for offences committed in their previous existence.

Read more: Sam Allardyce's reputation is in ruins after he quits England job in shame

Then there was Sven Goran Eriksson, his entangled love life in the FA front office, and the original 'fake sheikh' scam, where the Swede slaughtered some of his own players and said he would jump at a megabucks middle eastern deal which could persuade David Beckham to sign for Aston Villa and turn the Birmingham club into world beaters. I mean, seriously.

While there has already been unease at the methods involved - former England rugby star Matt Dawson for one criticised the Telegraph team for undermining the national team's chances - that feels a bit like shooting the messenger. Allardyce was always likely to be fertile territory for an investigation and so it proved.

Few in the game would ever have suspected this gruff, old school figure to be squeaky clean, but higher standards are at play when you consider the England manager's position. Think a cross between Prime Minister, Archbishop of Canterbury and the England cricket captain.

As well worn as the pattern is, still there is shock about the suddenness of Allardyce's fall from grace. Sixty one may be too late for one to change their spots, but surely he was savvy enough to notice the potential pitfalls when under-cover reporters covering as businessmen attempted to entrap him on the subject of how to get round third party ownership of football players? Duped by a bogus consortium, he agreed to travel to Singapore and Hong Kong as an ambassador and explain to the “businessmen” how they could circumvent FA rules.

Few tears will be shed for Allardyce this morning, but there was a hint of Shakespearean tragedy about the manner in which greed caused him to over-reach himself. Having landed what is presumably his dream £3m job, the 61-year-old managed to squander it entirely for the promise of an initial £400,000 as a keynote speaker. His paymasters at the FA, as culpable as they may have been, correctly concluded that the affair cheapened their organisation and his position had become untenable. Once thought the ultimate Barclays Premier League survivor, he now finds himself yesterday's man.

While few south of the border were exactly turning cartwheels when the FA's three-man selection panel - chief executive Martin Glenn, technical director Dan Ashworth and vice-chairman David Gill - recommended Allardyce to the FA board, rightly or wrongly he was perceived to be the best candidate going. There will be little enthusiasm for a short term deal which was hurriedly inked in place Gareth Southgate, a man who didn't want the post two months ago, while the more exacting moral standards of the post of national manager reduce the pool of plausible candidates.

If Scotland is feeling somewhat smug about all this it is because we have a fairly large vested interest. We face England at Wembley on Friday November 11 and while it is anyone's guess what the Allardyce era would have looked like if we had a larger sample size of matches to look at, the Three Lions have a look of utter disarray about them.

Read more: Sam Allardyce's reputation is in ruins after he quits England job in shame

The FA went into full-blown crisis mode last night, with Southgate all of five days to put his squad together for the meetings with Malta and Slovenia. Scotland and then a friendly with Spain follow in November before the FA find time to get a breath. When they eventually do, the likes of Alan Pardew and Eddie Howe may be on the radar for the next permanent manager's job. So too may Brendan Rodgers, apparently close when the role last came up, if not Mark Warburton.

As for Big Sam, while it seems unlikely in the extreme that the 61-year-old will ever work at Barclays Premier League level again, this being football we can probably expect him to be back at West Ham within the week. There is enormous money to be made legitimately in English football right now but power corrupts and he was not the first and will not be the last to be caught with his hands in the till. Perhaps his perfect record as England manager will sustain him as he involuntarily enters early retirement.