Allardyce: I have never taken a bung

Allardyce told The Sun: “Have I taken one? No. Have I ever been offered one? No. Never, not by anyone.

“If Quest ask whether I’ve been offered an illegal payment, I will answer them. That Answer will be ‘No’.

“I have never met Lord Stevens, but why should Lord Stevens, who is a very intelligent man, want to come and speak to me after that BBC programme?

“He is a man of evidence, an ex-copper, and if he saw that programme he must have been saying ‘what the hell was that? A trial by media? Guilty until proven innocent?’

“I haven’t been exposed yet I am under the most focus and that makes me extremely angry. I don’t envisage any problems.”

Allardyce has hit out at the makers of the Panorama programme, insisting he has been unfairly singled out.

“It only seems to be about me, nobody else. Yet I’ve done nothing wrong. That makes you angry,” he continued.

“Panorama used so-called top-line under-cover reporters for 14 months, spending a lot of time and money, and got nothing.”