Sam Allardyce will not face a police investigation

Big Sam has expressed his hope that he will now be able to "move on".

Sam Allardyce has welcomed the news that he will not face a police investigation into allegations of corruption and expressed his hope that he will now be able to "move on".

Allardyce agreed to stand down as England manager in September, a day after the Daily Telegraph published footage of him allegedly telling undercover reporters posing as foreign investors how to circumvent rules on player transfers.

This was the first in a week of stories about widespread corruption in the game, including an allegation that eight current or former Premier League managers have accepted bribes.

The City of London Police has been analysing the newspaper's evidence over the last six weeks and today announced that it is proceeding with one investigation of suspected bribery but Allardyce is not the subject of that inquiry.

In a statement, the 62-year-old Englishman said: "I was always confident this would be the case as there was no evidence against me.

"The position of England head coach is the pinnacle of any English manager's career and it was my dream job.

"While I am sad that my tenure came to an end early, I am nonetheless proud to have been chosen to manage the England football team and hope that today's confirmation from the police will give me the opportunity to move on."

He also thanked his family and friends for standing by him "during this difficult period" and asked that the "Football Association deals with this matter as quickly as possible".

However, the football authorities have been unable to proceed with their own investigation into the allegations as they have been waiting for the police to finish with the Daily Telegraph's evidence.

The Football Association, English Football League and Premier League have repeatedly said they cannot take any disciplinary measures until they have viewed all of the newspaper's material so they can see it in context and not just as it appeared in print or online. That is still their position.

A spokesman for the Daily Telegraph told Press Association Sport that it will continue to co-operate with the police and said "it remains our intention to release to the FA the relevant transcripts of our investigation when we are free to do so".

The City of London Police's short statement also gave little away beyond saying no arrests have been made.

"Detectives from the City of London Police Economic Crime Directorate have reviewed material gathered by a recent Daily Telegraph investigation into suspected corruption in football," it added.

"This review of the material has concluded and the decision has been taken to begin a criminal investigation into a single suspected offence of bribery."

Allardyce was the most high-profile figure named by the newspaper and his apparent offer to advise a group of phoney investors on how to "get around" third-party ownership restrictions cost him the job he had been seeking for years.

He protested his innocence but the controversy surrounding the newspaper sting, and some other indiscreet remarks that were caught by the undercover reporters on camera, forced him to stand down after just 67 days in charge.

With the shadow of criminal charges lifted, the former Bolton, Newcastle, Sunderland and West Ham manager will now hope for a return to club management and he is unlikely to be short of offers given his track record of keeping clubs in the top flight.

The Telegraph's investigation also resulted in Barnsley's assistant manager Tommy Wright being sacked after he was filmed accepting a £5,000 payment to apparently place players at the Championship club.

Other individuals named by the newspaper were Southampton assistant manager Eric Black, Leeds chairman Massimo Cellino and former QPR manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

Black was filmed allegedly explaining how to bribe lower-league clubs, Hasselbaink discussing a deal to become an ambassador for the investors and Cellino suggesting they take a stake in the Yorkshire club to benefit from player transfers.

All three have denied any wrongdoing and it is unclear what if any rules they may have broken. Hasselbaink has since lost his job at QPR but that is related to the club's results under his guidance.

The chairman of Belgian second-tier club Oud-Heverlee Leuven, Jimmy Houtput, was another named by the newspaper and he resigned when he was filmed appearing to offer his club as a "conduit" for sidestepping the third-party ownership rules.