Big Sam perfect for England – sports journo

THE journalist who watched Sam Allardyce give Bolton Wanderers fans “the time of their lives” in his seven-and-a-half-year stint as manager of the football club is backing him to do the same for England.

As Big Sam was today (Monday July 25) being officially unveiled as the new head coach of the national team today, Gordon Sharrock (pictured), the retired chief football writer of The Bolton News who reported on the Wanderers for 30 years, hailed the decision of the FA to appoint the 61-year-old.

Although Wanderers won no trophies in Allardyce’s tenure at the helm from 1999 to 2007, he guided the club out of the Championship via the play-offs to a sixth-place Premier League finish and twice qualified them for Europe.

In 2006, Allardyce was in the running for the England job in the aftermath of Sven Goran Eriksson’s reign but lost out to Steve McClaren.

Since leaving Bolton, Allardyce has gone on to manage Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers, West Ham and Sunderland, and his reputation as an outstanding tactician and exploiter of sports science has continued to grow.

“It was an adventure under Sam for Bolton,” Sharrock told TheBusinessDesk. “He gave Wanderers the time of their lives. You only need to look at them now (relegated last season to League One) to see they could’ve been an awful lot worse off.”

Sharrock watched Allardyce as an uncompromising defender in the Bolton team of the late 1970s which won promotion to the old Division One and during a second spell at the club at the back end of his career and reported on the team he managed.

Allardyce married his Boltonian wife Lynne when they were both aged 19 and they have kept a home in the town ever since, regardless of where his job has taken him.

“He will take England’s finest footballers and make them believe they can be the world’s best,” said Sharrock.

“But the first thing he will do is get them out of that mentality which made them look an absolute shambles against Iceland (in the Euro 2016 last 16 tie in France). That second half was scandalous – they couldn’t pass 10 yards to a white shirt. Psychologically they were a wreck.

“Those players wouldn’t play like that in the Premier League.

“He will make sure his players don’t get distracted by all the hype and expectation which appeared to weigh so heavy on them during the Euros.

“He has his own psychological skills – similar in many ways to Alex Ferguson – but he will have access to a team of people working with him on that with England.”

But Sharrock added that he hoped the England fans and the media “give him a chance”.

“I think the media will because of what he did at Bolton and what he’s done since he’s left,” he said.

“When you think about it, getting a club like Bolton into Europe twice and to sixth place in the Premier League is a similar achievement to Leicester winning the Premier League last season.”

Sharrock admitted, however, that Allardyce’s football philosophy was “more functional than flair”.

“You’ve got to accept that, but it’s not quite as black and white as that,” he said.

“Sam’s about getting results. He doesn’t really concern himself with winning friends. He knows that sometimes you’ve got to upset people to get results and he will do that.

“For example, he knew that when Bolton played Arsenal that if they tried to pass them off the park it would be suicidal. So he would gear up his game plan during the week to get in Arsenal’s faces – exploit their weaknesses and not let them play.

“Of course, it doesn’t always work, but he ruffled Arsene Wenger’s feathers a few times.

“And he achieved some spectacular results against Manchester United, beating them twice at Old Trafford in their first two seasons in the Premier  League.

“He knew United were between Champions League fixtures when Bolton played them and took full advantage.

“It was about making the best of what he had. He looks at what he’s got and gets the best out of them.”

Sharrock also said it would be interesting to see him dealing with the best talent in England – a crop of players like he’s never had before.