- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
It was always going to end like this for poor old Roy Hodgson. He should have gone after the debacle in Brazil two years ago; it certainly would have saved him the ignominy of losing to Iceland, England’s most infamous tournament defeat in a field of many.
So Hodgson has left his legacy – but the question for The FA’s powerbrokers is, who next?
The suggestion of Gareth Southgate provoked outrage – turns out he didn’t want the job anyway. Who would?
And this is part of England’s entitlement issue. They carry on like the mega-coaches of the modern era, such as Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, should be falling over themselves to ask The FA for an interview.
The idea that Southgate, the Under-21s coach, with 57 caps to his name and more than 500 league appearances in England, should be considered for the job, is folly to them.
And so now that Mourinho, Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane are safely wrapped up in their mega-club coaching careers, who is actually on the FA’s shortlist?
Jurgen Klinsmann is one, but would the English really tolerate a German in charge? They might win a penalty shootout for once, but they’d have to even get that far.
Slaven Bilic and Laurent Blanc make up the foreign contingent while the home grown charge is led by Glenn Hoddle, Alan Pardew, Eddie Howe, Steve Bruce and Sam Allardyce.
“Sam Allardyce?!” I hear you cry.
Yes, Sam Allardyce. Big Sam. Sam Allardici.
The one who interviewed for the England job and had the nerve to turn up with a powerpoint presentation which nobody at the FA knew how to use. The job which was given instead to Steve McClaren.
The man famous for saving sides from relegation, most recently Sunderland in the most dramatic of fashions.
Well, Big Sam’s the man for the job.
Let’s look at England for what they are – underachievers, petrified of the back pages, unable to execute the basics or showing any pride in their performance.
They’re not the Rolls Royce they wish they were or think they are.
Allardyce took Bolton Wanderers from England’s second tier to Europe. The carpet was taken out from underneath him at Newcastle, while his spell at Blackburn Rovers was a success.
He then took over at West Ham, again in the second tier, and achieved promotion at the first attempt.
They finished 10th in their first season back in the Premier League, 13th in the second and 12th in the third. He signed Andy Carroll, Adrian, Aaron Cresswell, Enner Valencia and Mauro Karate – a useful squad which was inherited by Bilic.
Finally, he produced his Houdini moment at Sunderland last season.
English coaches don’t generally get a crack at the top table of European football. So you can only go on what they’ve done with what they’ve got.
Success at Bolton? Tick.
Success at Newcastle? Not really. But even Mourinho has been sacked. Twice.
Success at Blackburn? Tick.
Success at West Ham? Tick.
Miracle at Sunderland? Tick, tick, tick.
But what about the football, you cry!
Allardyce is a dinosaur, Mourinho said he needed a Black and Decker to break down the wall of his “19th-century football”.
Stick in the mixer, Big Sam says. Knock it down, play the second balls.
Rubbish.
There’s nothing wrong with being defensively organised and hard to beat; if England were they’d be playing France in a few days.
Allardyce himself wrote in his autobiography: “when they hit a 50-yard ball it was a cultured pass; when we did it, it was a hopeful hoof.”
Allardyce is exactly what England need. Passionate, yes. Organised, yes. But more than that, Allardyce knows how to rebuild shattered confidence and maximise the talent of every individual.
England may not want to admit it, but they and big Sam are the perfect fit.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.