Charlton boss Alan Curbishley admitted he is not used to the media attention that comes with being a candidate for the vacant England manager's job.
Curbishley was pictured with Football Association chief executive Brian Barwick in the Sunday Mirror.
And following the 2-1 win over Middlesbrough he said: "I am not used to waking up to that sort of headline.
"They were speaking to people before me and people after me but someone was going to get caught and it was me."
And Curbishley insisted there was nothing clandestine about the meeting.
"It looked a bit cloak and dagger but the chairman Richard Murray gave me permission to talk to them," he added.
"It was very relaxed, very preliminary. I don't think it was really an interview at all."
The Charlton manager may have been philosophical about his treatment by the press but was less understanding about his team's first-half display against Boro.
"We had a chat this week, we knew how important today and the run-in was because everyone criticises us about our poor run-ins," he said.
"It looked a bit cloak and dagger but the chairman gave me permission to talk"
"But that first 45 minutes was poor - there is no escaping that but we got going in the second half and picked up a bit."
Darren Bent was again the hero with two goals and Curbishley said: "He scores goals but they are different. He scores right foot, left foot and headers."
Middlesbrough manager Steve McClaren felt the defeat was hard on his side, despite admitting they had half an eye on Wednesday's Uefa Cup trip to AS Roma.
"We have three games in six days - we have an important game in Rome on Wednesday so we couldn't afford to put certain players in," he explained.
"We made nine changes and it just shows what a good squad we have and what we have coming through the ranks.
"In that first-half we could have been one or two up and once we got an equaliser I thought we would get something from the game - which we deserved."