Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 15:57, 15 June 2007

Sam Allardyce

Personal information
Full name	Samuel Allardyce
Position(s)	Defender (retired)
Team information
Current team	Newcastle United (manager)

Samuel "Sam" Allardyce (born October 19 1954 in Dudley, West Midlands) is an English former professional football player and current football manager. He is currently the manager of Newcastle United of the English Premier League. He was manager of Bolton Wanderers between 1999 and 2007, leading them to a League Cup final and guiding them to UEFA Cup qualification for the first time in their history. He is often referred to by the nickname "Big Sam".

Early life and playing career

Allardyce grew up on Dudley's Wren's Nest estate and was educated at Sycamore Green Primary School and later at Wren's Nest Secondary School.

He joined Bolton Wanderers as a centre-half in 1973 and is best remembered as a player for being part of the side which won the Second Division title in 1977-78 to secure promotion to the First Division. This is currently the only honour he has won as either a player or manager.

Allardyce was signed by Ken Knighton to play for Sunderland for whom he played 26 times during the 1980-81 season. He also played for Huddersfield Town, Coventry City, Millwall and Preston North End, whom he captained to promotion from the Fourth Division in 1986-87.

He played in the United States in the nascent North American Soccer League for the Tampa Bay Rowdies. The football team shared facilities with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Allardyce applied many practices of American Football towards soccer (with regards to training, player management and tactics). These innovative ideas helped him progress in football management.

Managerial career

Early days in management

Allardyce was named as assistant manager (player-coach) to Brian Talbot at West Bromwich Albion in February 1989 - ironic as he was a supporter of Wolverhampton Wanderers, one of Albion's deadliest rivals. On the playing side, Allardyce appeared in only one game for Albion, coming on as a substitute against Newcastle United in November 1989. His spell at the Hawthorns lasted two years before he and Talbot were sacked as the club slid towards the Second Division trap door for the first time.

He then took up the role of player/manager of Limerick and guided the League of Ireland team to promotion by topping the first division with a number of points to spare in 1991-92 in his only season at the club.

After his one successful season in Ireland Allardyce returned to England and to Preston North End for the start of the 1992-93 season to take up the role of coach/assistant manager under Les Chapman. Ten games into the season however Chapman was sacked and Allardyce given the role of caretaker manager. His short spell in charge was an impressive one with Preston putting in some fine performances, picking some much needed league points along the way. The clubs board though felt that Allardyce's managerial inexperience at league level worked against him and opted in December 1992 to appoint the more experienced and charismatic John Beck who in turn appointed Gary Peters (footballer) as his assistant. Allardyce carried on with the club in his original coaching capacity for another 18 months but the disappointment of missing out on the Preston job spoke volumes and when in July 1994 arch rivals Blackpool offered him the manager's job Allardyce jumped at the chance.

Allardyce's spell at Bloomfield Road, however, was a strange one. Despite leading the club to their most successful season in years he was sacked at the end of the campaign after failing to guide them to Division One. Blackpool finished third, missing out on automatic promotion on the last day of the season, and were then beaten in the play-off semi-finals by Bradford City after winning 2-0 away at Valley Parade, only to lose 3-0 in the reverse leg on home soil.

In January 1997, Sam Allardyce made his return to football as manager of Division Two basement club Notts County. He arrived too late to save them from relegation, but they won promotion at the first attempt by finishing top of Division Three at the end of the 1997-98 season. Notts County broke several club and national records, winning the title by 19 points and becoming the first post-war side to win promotion in mid-March.

Bolton Wanderers

He remained in charge at Meadow Lane until September 1999, when he returned to Bolton Wanderers in Division One and became their new manager.

Despite being in the bottom half of the table when he took over, Bolton reached the 1999-00 Division One playoffs, losing to Ipswich Town and had an eventful run to the FA Cup semi-finals.

Bolton went one better in 2000-01 by reaching the playoff final where they beat Preston North End 3-0 to achieve promotion to the Premiership after a three-year absence. Allardyce said he planned to walk away from football at the end of his 10-year contract at Bolton Wanderers, when he would have been 56.

Bolton went top of the Premiership after gaining ten points from the first four games of the 2001-02 campaign. However, the Bolton squad was not strong enough to mount a sustained challenge and their safety was not ensured until the penultimate game of the season. They continued to struggle in 2002-03, avoiding relegation by just two points and one place.

After two years in the bottom half of the table, Bolton went on to substantially improve, and established themselves in the Premiership. 2003-04 saw Allardyce's side finish eighth and reach the Carling Cup final, losing 2-1 to Middlesbrough.

2004-05 saw Sam Allardyce and Bolton finish sixth to win qualification in the UEFA Cup for the first time in the club's history, equal on points with 2005's UEFA Champions League victors Liverpool. In the early months of 2005-06, Allardyce once again took Bolton into the top half of the Premiership and also steered them into the knockout rounds of the UEFA Cup. Bolton eventually finished eighth that season.

In early 2006 it was confirmed that Sven-Göran Eriksson would leave the England manager's job after the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and as a successful English manager, Allardyce was touted as a major candidate for the post. Bolton confirmed that they would let him talk to the FA if they approached him. However he was never offered the job, which was eventually given to Steve McClaren.

Speculation arose on April 28 2007, that Allardyce would quit as Bolton manager at the end of the 2006-2007 season, a move that the board initially denied. However, Bolton announced on April 29 that Allardyce was to leave the club after eight years, effective immediately. Sammy Lee was announced as his replacement the following day.

Allardyce told the Mail on Sunday on May 13, 2007, that part of his reason for leaving Bolton was because he wanted to win silverware. Allardyce said, "I have had praise for what I've done, but there's nothing at the end of it. I want silverware. I'm determined to get it before my days are over."

Was touted as the next manager of Sunderland, but turned them down on the basis of them being a shite Yo-Yo club with no fans, leaving chairman Nail Quinn with egg on his face and having to install Roy Keane from the nearby travelers caravan site instead.

PhilSAFC is a git spacker like.

Managerial stats

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %
Blackpool		July 19 1994	May 29 1996	102	44	35	23	43.13
Notts County		January 16 1997	October 14 1999	145	56	50	39	38.62
Bolton Wanderers		October 19 1999	April 29 2007	370	153	114	103	41.35
Newcastle United		May 15 2007	Present	0	0	0	0	00.00

Trivia

• At a charity auction in 2007 he paid £10,500 to purchase the first tickets for that years Glastonbury Festival, and then touted them on at a large personal profit.
• Allardyce writes a regular column for FourFourTwo magazine, on amateur football management, coaching and tactics.

Notes

1. Allardyce's retirement date - BBC Sport
2. Allardyce resigns as Bolton boss BBC Sport, April 29 2007
3. Lee appointed manager of Bolton BBC Sport, April 30 2007
4. I quit Bolton because I need to be at a club where I can win trophies Mail On Sunday, May 13 2007
5. http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,4-2007130414,00.html

References

• Sam Allardyce management career statistics at Soccerbase

Template:Persondata

• English footballers
• Bolton Wanderers F.C. players
• Sunderland A.F.C. players
• Huddersfield Town F.C. players
• Coventry City F.C. players
• Millwall F.C. players
• Preston North End F.C. players
• West Bromwich Albion F.C. players
• Limerick F.C. players
• English football managers
• FA Premier League managers
• Blackpool F.C. managers
• Notts County F.C. managers
• Bolton Wanderers F.C. managers
• Newcastle United F.C. managers
• Football League of Ireland players
• Football League of Ireland managers
• People from Dudley
• 1954 births
• Living people