 Bolton reached the Round of 32 in the UEFA Cup in 2005 – 06, beating Lokomotiv Plovdiv (Bulgaria) in the First Round and successfully negotiating through the Group stage after beating Zenit Saint Petersburg (Russia), and drawing with Sevilla (Spain), Beşiktaş (Turkey) and Vitória Guimarães (Portugal), before losing to Marseille (France) in the knock-out stages. Allardyce's success with Bolton resulted in the FA putting him on a short-list of four people to succeed Sven-Göran Eriksson as England manager after the 2006 FIFA World Cup, alongside Alan Curbishley, Steve McClaren and Martin O'Neill. He was interviewed for the position and was told by FA Chief Executive Brian Barwick that the final choice would be between him and McClaren, however the FA eventually decided to give the job to McClaren. Allardyce was also again offered the Newcastle job and was this time to keen to take it, but Newcastle chairman Freddie Shepard broke off contract negotiations after electing to appoint caretaker-manager Glenn Roeder on a full-time basis. Allardyce's team seemed unaffected by speculation on his future or by their European exploits, and ended the season in eighth position.
