There must be a few West Ham fans rubbing their eyes in disbelief at the news that Sam Allardyce is being interviewed for the England job. He did a solid job at West Ham, but never fitted in because he was a results-at-all-costs manager and was too brash to acknowledge the West Ham way.
It should be acknowledged he's a decent Premier League manager with a lot of experience. Big Sam kept Sunderland up last season through instilling a system and making some astute signings and he's managed at Bolton, Newcastle, Blackburn and West Ham without ever getting relegated and mainly improved those sides. Though if Allardyce is the best English candidate, I'd certainly prefer a foreign coach like Jurgen Klinsmann.
But if the England job did go to Big Sam, then concentrating on results might not be such a bad thing. We don't have to watch them play every week, and grinding out results and respecting points is what tournaments are all about. The team spirit certainly improved while he was at West Ham and players seem to want to play for him. A clear system and a slightly scary manager might improve things after the misery against Iceland, when Kane, Alli, Sterling, Rooney and co choked.
And at least Mark Noble might finally get a call-up from Big Sam, along with Aaron Cresswell and Andy Carroll. While Kevin Nolan will presumably be plucked from the Orient and installed as captain…
6 comments:
God noooooo not fat Sam.
He has a reputation (possibly the most positive one amongst a number of others) of never taking a team into relegation. Is this really the best that the England Team can hope for? Is this the extent of England's ambition: not to have to face the equivalent of international relegation, which I guess is a demotion in world ranking. I understand that England are currently ranked 13th. Is success therefore to be judged on remaining at this position (unlucky for some).
If you asked all football supporters from all the clubs would you like allardyce to be the next england manager you would be laughed at even asking the question . Someone who has no idea of the meaning of playing attractive football and with his boring archaic tactics has never won a thing only survived relegation. So why do the clowns once again have no idea on this and once again choose to interview people who would take us backwards even further than we have already done dince the great bobby robson was in charge. Change these clowns firstly at the fa as thats all they give us F A.
He only has to win 6 games. Portugal were mostly boring, We played periods of good football under Sam and I reckon he'd do a good job.
Forget the past, there's only 1 candidate of any note in my eyes, bring back Glenn Hoddle !!
Thumbs down for Big Sam overall then. As MJ said you don't have to lay great football to win a tournament, though a bit of a sad comment on the PL if Big Sam is the best English manager available. Old timers Hoddle and Redknapp might have a clear philosophy on how to play, which Hodgson never seemed to have, but not many candidates out there.
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