Allardyce sacking a 'black mark' for football, says Koeman

(Reuters) - Everton boss Ronald Koeman described Sam Allardyce's fall from grace as "a black mark on the game" after the ex England manager was forced out of the job following a sting by the Daily Telegraph newspaper. Allardyce, who was England manager for 67 days, quit on Tuesday after being secretly filmed by undercover Daily Telegraph reporters as he offered advice on how to "get around" rules on player transfers. "If you like football then it's a bad story. For football in general it's a black mark on the game. That's not good. I don't know (what goes on)," Koeman told reporters on Thursday. "What I know is how I work in my managerial role, and that's not different in England to when I was in Holland or Portugal or Spain. My advice for a player is technical. I am not involved in the business. But I cannot talk about other managers. "I'm very disappointed, first of all for the man himself. He had the chance to be manager of England national team, then this happened. I think the FA made the right decision." Everton, who are fifth in the Premier League, suffered their first league loss of the campaign against Bournemouth last weekend and Koeman said he was hoping for a strong response from his side when they host seventh-placed Crystal Palace on Friday. "You learn every day about players, about wins and about defeats," the former Southampton manager said. "We want a reaction but one defeat in six is not bad. Win tomorrow night and we are second in the table, more than anyone expected." Koeman also said he will not risk injured left back Leighton Baines against Crystal Palace, but Romelu Lukaku will start despite the striker's "painful" toe injury. (Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru)