Harry Redknapp claims his "crazy" contract while Tottenham Hotspur manager scuppered his chances of becoming the England coach last year.
Queens Park Rangers manager Redknapp was the overwhelming favourite to succeed Fabio Capello, who resigned from the post hours after Redknapp was cleared of tax evasion charges.
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy and owner Joe Lewis grew weary with Redknapp's managerial style and thinly-veiled desire to manage England, which culminated in his sacking in June after failure to regain a Champions League berth.
“That was my time, really, if I was going to get it," Redknapp said of his chances to replace Capello at his Thursday press conference. "Last year, there were a lot of things that went against me surrounding that massive contractual clause. People will always deny that is the reason, the FA couldn’t say that and I won’t say, but it didn’t help me.
“I had such a badly loaded contract it was crazy, in Tottenham’s favour. That’s what you get for not reading your contract properly.
Redknapp lamented a "badly loaded contract"
“It was a massive amount that someone would have had to pay to get me out of it. If they sacked me it wasn’t so massive and that was a bolt out of the blue, a shock, I genuinely never saw it coming.
“I went to a dinner with Daniel [Levy] at Christmas. He took all the staff out and he made a speech, which isn’t Daniel-like. I was embarrassed the way he spoke about me.
“Was it Levy who cut the cord? It was other people, the owner of the club [Lewis] that decided.”
Despite his views about the Tottenham contract, it is understood three of the Football Association's four-man panel, which ultimately chose Roy Hodgson as the Three Lions' new coach, were against appointing Redknapp.
Redknapp said he "wouldn’t take" the England job now, having opted to manage QPR rather than the Ukrainian national team in November.