Saturday 23 July 2016 07:49, UK
As Sam Allardyce is appointed England boss, here are 10 things you may not know about the national team manager...
1. Both his parents are Scottish
Yes, you read that right. Allardyce is seen as a man who plays proper English football with a strong northern background, but the new England manager is in fact of Scottish descent. Although he was born and raised in Dudley and spent his whole career as a player and manager in England, barring very brief spells at Tampa Bay and Limerick, his parents Robert and Mary both originated in Scotland.
2. He loves getting in the middle of a rivalry
It's not often a manager moves between one of the biggest rivalries in English football - but Allardyce has done so twice. Allardyce is the first manager in history to have managed both Newcastle and Sunderland and he has also managed both Bolton and Blackburn.
3. He HAS been relegated as a manager
A well-known fact about Allardyce is that he has never been relegated from the Premier League as a manager and that hiring him is a sure fire way to save your side from impending demotion to the second tier, as he has shown most recently with Sunderland last season. He does in fact have one blemish on his record though, back in his second managerial job at Notts County his side were relegated bottom of the third tier at the end of the 1996/97 season. The boss quickly made sure this was a one off by winning the fourth tier the following season with a record amount of points and by a 17 point margin, from which he has never looked back.
4. His son was also a professional footballer
Allardyce's son Craig followed in his father's footsteps in signing a professional football contract, although his career never really took off in the same way as that of his dad. Craig joined Preston's youth ranks while Sam was on the coaching staff but only made one senior appearance for the club before leaving in 1994. Craig linked up once more with Big Sam when the latter offered him a contract at Blackpool while manager of the club; but once again the younger Allardyce only made one league appearance. Allardyce junior eventually hung up his boots at the age of 25 to become a football agent.
5. He has won a league title in Ireland
Allardyce joined Limerick in the Irish second tier for the 1991/92 season in the role of player-manager. Despite the demands of combining playing and managing a team while having little to no knowledge of the Irish league - recruitment was left to the board and staff - he led his side to the League of Ireland First Division title and promotion to the Irish Premier League. More impressive to add to the feat of winning a title is that Allardyce himself notched 23 appearances and scored three goals to aid the side during his season-long association with the club. He left at the end of the season to re-join Preston North End as a player-coach.
6. He was in the PFA team of the year
Alright, so it was the 1986/87 PFA Fourth Division team of the year, in which Allardyce made the cut as one of the two centre backs after a season in which he was one of the main components of the Preston side who won promotion from the league that year. Although it may not be a PFA side that goes down as one of the greats in history there are a few names which will be memorable to some, such as Terry Phelan who was part of the Wimbledon Crazy Gang which won the FA Cup the following year; and Colin Pascoe, who was Brendan Rodgers' assistant manager at Swansea and Liverpool.
7. He's a bit of a businessman
Allardyce's life isn't football, football, football. Over the years he has enjoyed spreading his wings into different ventures off the field. While still a player, he used to buy small properties and do them up before selling them off for a profit to add to his football income. Since then he has also run a number of different businesses, ranging from a motor spares firm to a piano restaurant.
8. He likes to be reunited with old faces
Allardyce has a habit of re-signing his former players when he moves on to new clubs. At West Ham some of his first signings were Joey O'Brien, who had played under him at Bolton, and Abdoulaye Faye, whom he had signed when he was Bolton manager and again when he was Newcastle manager. The most notable Allardyce player is Kevin Nolan, whom he gave his Bolton debut to in 1999 before re-signing the player for West Ham in the Championship in 2011. In total Nolan made almost 400 first team appearances under Allardyce.
9. His dad was a copper
Allardyce has always been a man of discipline and keeping his players in order, so it will come as no surprise that his father was a policeman and used to keep everyone in line whilst the young Sam was growing up. During his upbringing in the West Midlands his father was the local sergeant, which definitely goes some way to explaining the no-nonsense approach which has become an identification of Allardyce during his managerial career.
10. He's got some moves
Big Sam loves a good song and dance. Back in 2003 he danced with Jay-Jay Okocha on the pitch to celebrate Bolton's Premier League survival, he has danced to Gangnam Style with James Corden on A League Of Their Own and most recently he was caught celebrating Sunderland's survival in Marbella by busting a few moves to Rihanna's We Found Love. Showing that even if his style of play is seen by some as old school, he has no problems when it comes to more modern music and dance.
