Allardyce - Big Sam: My Autobiography

BIG SAM

Sam Allardyce

Copyright 2015 Sam Allardyce

The right of Sam Allardyce to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.

First published as an Ebook by Headline Publishing Group in 2015

Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library

eISBN: 978 1 4722 3266 3

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CONTENTS

About the Book

With nearly 20 years as a player plus almost 25 years as a coach and manager under his belt, Sam Allardyce is one of the most recognisable figures in British football.

Big Sam has been a robust defensive general throughout the seventies and eighties, and an imposing touchline presence as a gaffer since 1994. Until he left West Ham in the summer of 2015, he was the second longest-serving manager in the Premier League behind Arsene Wenger.

Over the last 42 years, Allardyce has seen it all. The game he so loves is radically different to that in which he made his debut back in 1973, and in telling his wonderfully colourful story for the very first time, Allardyce talks intriguingly about the changing face of players and managers. His autobiography positively crackles with characteristic insight, honesty and hard-hitting opinions.

About the Author

Sam Allardyce was born in Dudley in the West Midlands in 1954, and supported Wolverhampton Wanderers as a boy.

Between 1973 and 1992, he played for Bolton Wanderers, Sunderland, Millwall, Tampa Bay Rowdies, Coventry City, Huddersfield Town, Preston North End, West Bromwich Albion and Limerick.

His coaching and managerial career has been even longer. As a manager he has served at the helm of Blackpool, Notts County, Bolton Wanderers, Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers and West Ham United.

As a player, Allardyce won the Second Division with Bolton in 1978. As a manager, he won the First Division in Ireland with Limerick in 1992, the Third Division with Notts County in 1998, the First Division Play-off final with Bolton in 2001 (where he also reached the League Cup final in 2004), and the Championship Play-off final with West Ham in 2012. In addition, he has won the Premier League Manager of the Month award on six separate occasions.

He left West Ham in May 2015.

To Lynne, Craig, Rachael, Harriet,
Sam, Keaton and Ollie

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My grateful thanks to Sir Alex Ferguson for his generous foreword. To the publishers Headline for their unstinting support in putting together my autobiography. Thanks also to my lawyer Jonathan Crystal and my agent Mark Curtis for their advice. To Shaun Custis for his valued assistance in putting my thoughts on paper, to Scott Custis and Molly Baker for transcribing hours of interviews and last, but certainly not least, my wife Lynne for putting up with me for 45 years.

FOREWORD
By Sir Alex Ferguson

Sam Allardyce is one of the great characters of the game, and its with the utmost pleasure that I find myself contributing a few words to his long-anticipated autobiography.

Having spent all of my playing career as a centre-forward, I was able to sympathise with fellow Number 9s in England on the day they were due to come up against Big Sam. My God, I wonder if breakfast was in any way enjoyable. There were many centre-forwards in those days who were not exactly shrinking violets, but nonetheless contests against the Big (Man) Brute from Dudley were certainly a test of their courage.

Whatever Sam achieved as a player could not compare to his long and illustrious career as a manager. His was not an easy route to the top, but I always believed that the learning process is more worthwhile when you start from the very roots of the game, so his first spell as a player-coach at his local club West Bromwich Albion must have felt a great honour to him.

After a two-year stint in the Midlands, he then cut his teeth as manager of Limerick where he won the league. The next three appointments were challenges which only the best can endure and sometimes tolerate. Clubs like Preston, Blackpool and Notts County have that revolving door for managers that can either kill your career or make you, and those experiences without doubt equipped Sam for greater tests ahead.

It was when he joined his next club, Bolton Wanderers, that I started to take notice of Sams achievements, particularly when I came up against his team. When you assess the relative stature of Bolton and Manchester United, we are talking David and Goliath and more than once did David embarrass us.

I remember the first trip to Bolton when they moved to their new stadium, the Reebok. I was more than intrigued by their substitutes sitting on bicycles and pedalling away while the match went on. After the game, to get to Sams lounge you had to pass through the video analysts room where there were a number of boffins digesting and detailing the previous 90 minutes. Yes, he was ahead of his time and through this exhaustive use of video analysis he was able not only to assess home talent but to scout players from all over Europe who were just coming to the end of their careers with their present clubs. I can think of Okocha, Hierro, Djorkaeff, and there were many more.

Taking a club like Bolton into Europe for their first and only time was one of his major accomplishments, and quite frankly they have gone downhill since Sam left.

If there was ever an unfortunate time to join a football club then Sams brief spells at Newcastle and Blackburn were examples of bad timing and bad luck. Both clubs changed ownership and out went Sam. Ridiculous, it seems now, but that is the football industry.

His recent spell at West Ham was a fine example of astute management, gaining promotion to the Premier League with what you could only call a workmanlike team but one that had all the character of their manager. In his last season there was only one challenge, and that was to consolidate West Hams position in the Premier League, which he succeeded in doing so well with his skilful leadership.

Sam is enjoying his rest at the moment, but football is at a loss without him. For me, there is no way he can leave this great game as it needs its characters. Thankfully, his Scottish lineage wont allow him to quit, so on that note I await his return with great anticipation.

Good luck, Sam.

INTRODUCTION
11 June 2015

What a view. The hills of Moraira here on the north-eastern tip of the Costa Blanca in Spain hold an eternal fascination for me. The sun burns down on the dusty yellow landscape stretching towards the coast. When the clouds drift over, they bring out the green in the trees, and even on the occasions lightning flashes across the mountain tops its a spectacular sight.

The dragonfly is buzzing across the swimming pool. He arrives at 10am almost every day and was a pest at first. But the grandkids named him Hector and hes become our adopted pet. He might be a she, but Im not sure how you tell with dragonflies. Hector didnt turn up one day last week and we were in a panic. I actually went looking for him. Thats all I have to worry about these days, wondering whats happened to the dragonfly.

This is the life. We built the villa where Im sitting as a refuge from the madness of football. It took two years but it was the best investment we ever made. The builder was a bit naughty though. He carved out a sandstone sign in the shape of a football which reads Big Sams Villa and nailed it to the wall between the first and second floor. My wife Lynne wasnt happy and is convinced it was my idea. Your bloody villa, is it? What about me? Have I got nothing to do with this family? Is it all you? Lynne is threatening to get a ladder and pull the sign down or get the builder back to carve out another one underneath which will say, And Lynnes too!