Allardyce
The Football Association will appoint Sam Allardyce
as the next manager on Thursday, after a hugely impressive interview in
which he committed himself to the development of future talent at all
age levels and offered to work with a young English coach who could be
his successor.
Allardyce has been the favoured candidate all along and his
recruitment as Roy Hodgson’s successor is expected to be rubber-stamped
at a full board meeting of the governing body on Thursday. The FA had
been willing to pay £4m a year to their new manager but with Allardyce
commanding £2m a year at Sunderland, the cost will be considerably less
than that.
Allardyce has easily seen off competition from Jurgen Klinsmann, the
United States manager, and Hull City’s Steve Bruce, and is thought to
have struck a chord by telling the FA that England are not lacking top
quality talent, which simply needs to be managed better.
It was thought on Wednesday night that the FA was some distance away
from putting a contract in front of Allardyce, who was at Hartlepool
United’s ground last night for a pre-season friendly with his Sunderland
side. Allardyce was hugely disappointed to be overlooked for the
position ten years ago and feels the time is right to step away from the
relentless demands of Premier League football and take up the
international role.
The FA have felt the need to move quickly to confirm Allardyce’s
appointment, with Sunderland declaring publicly that the uncertainty
created by the search for a successor has affected their attempts to
prepare for the new Premier League season. Sunderland have put David
Moyes at the top of their possible list to replace Allardyce
Allardyce has shown a positive outlook on the work which has been
undertaken to create the FA’s St George’s Park set-up. Roy Hodgson did
not relocate to the Staffordshire base as a place of work and there has
been no suggestion that his successor would, but Allardyce has always
taken a dim view of the suggestion that it has been dumped somewhere
inaccessible. In his autobiography, he said that the governing body
could have built a new national stadium next to Birmingham’s NEC, on St
George’s Park’s doorstep, and saved themselves a fortune at the same
time.
Allardyce clashes with Cameron Jerome and other Norwich players
When interviewed in 2006, Allardyce also rejected the view of
commentators who said that Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard were
incapable of operating together in the same midfield. He told an
interviewing panel made up of the FA’s Geoff Thompson, Trevor Brooking,
David Dein and Dave Richards and Brian Barwick that the two should
simply operate within a three-man midfield with a sitting midfielder
behind them, giving each of them the flexibility to advance.
Allardyce felt the interview had gone very well but the job was given
to Steve McClaren. To compound his disappointment, Allardyce’s Bolton
played McClaren’s Middlesbrough on the night by which the two of them
were to have heard if they had been given the job.
Martin Glenn, the FA’s chief executive, said on Wednesday that the
new man must make concerted, innovative and “un-ashamed” use of sports
psychology as he aims to build mental resilience in the face of the
“world’s most intensely passionate” press.
“The British press, like it or not, are probably the most intensely
passionate about the game in the world and that has a spill-over
effect,” Glenn said. “The consequence of which is people probably play
not to make a mistake, as opposed to play to win.
“So the new manager’s got to be someone who can inspire people to get
the best out of themselves, build resilience and unashamedly adopt the
kind of psychological techniques that other sports and other football
teams have done. To really to inspire people that when they put their
England jersey on they play as well for England as they do for their
club.”
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