Mark Sampson has been sacked by the Football Association as England Women's manager because of "inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour".
But the FA has given Sampson the boot not because of the controversial Eni Aluko case but because of "clear evidence of inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour by a coach" while he was working at Bristol's Women's Super League club, as reported by the Sun.
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FA chief executive Martin Glenn said Sampson had "overstepped the professional boundaries between player and coach".
Glenn said: "We were both deeply concerned with the contents of the report. Let's be really clear: no laws were broken.
"Greg and I are not able to challenge the professional views of our safeguarding experts. We thought the conduct issues raised in the report were what the problem was.
"We judge it is not right for any FA employee with having conduct like that behind them."
The governing body's chief executive said the decision to terminate Sampson's contract was obvious after he became aware of the "full detail" of inappropriate relationships the Welshman had with female players while he was manager of Bristol Academy, reports from the Guardian claim.
The anonymous claims against Sampson were made in March 2014, three months after he left Bristol Academy WFC to become boss of the Lionesses.
A safeguarding investigation decided Sampson posed no risk and he was cleared to go on working in football in March 2015.
But in the wake of Aluko's claims of racism and bullying, people outside the FA advised the governing body to look again at the full report into the Bristol case.
Sampson denied Aluko's allegations and was cleared by an internal FA probe and an independent investigation of any wrongdoing.
As reported by the Guardian, when Glenn and Chairman Greg Clarke were made aware of its contents last week, they acted swiftly and Glenn told Sampson he was out yesterday afternoon – just hours after he had watched his team beat Russia 6-0 in a World Cup qualifier.
And after the first goal scored by Nikita Parris, all 11 players, including the goalkeeper, sprinted to embrace him in the dugout, an orchestrated demonstration of support for the manager in the wake of the Aluko allegations, something that has faced strong criticism from Aluko herself, calling the act "selfish", as per the Independent.
