A date for the diary is February 27 when Sam Allardyce returns to Upton Park with his Sunderland team.
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The new Sunderland boss believes that he should have been considered for the England job back in 2006 after Sven Goran-Eriksson revealed he was stepping down, prior to the eventual appointment of Steve McClaren.
Briefly a Sunderland centre-half during the early 1980s, Allardyce had been enjoying a sabbatical following his departure from West Ham in May.
Reid is the most successful Black Cats boss of the modern era, having guided the North East outfit to successive seventh-place finishes in the Premier League.
And while “Big Sam” Allardyce never held the position, you’d better believe he had done his homework.
Allardyce will obviously be motivated to prove Newcastle were wrong to not give him enough time, but the fact of the matter is that Sunderland’s squad has not been anywhere near good enough for the last couple of seasons.
“I wanted to do a real knock-your-socks-off interview for the FA, so I put together a PowerPoint presentation which looked at every single detail”, Allardyce said. Quite what the 26-year-old former England U21 worldwide would make of any potential approach given he has just signed a new five year contract remains to be seen.
“The lads appear to be in a relatively positive frame of mind and I need to work out how best to get them to play, individually and collectively”.
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Meanwhile Tomkins and Collins are two of Allardyce’s trusted defensive players, making them appealing as Sunderland have already shipped a division high of 18 goals in eight games. That will help him because he’ll know exactly what it’s like playing in the North-East and he’s got to bring a bit of stability back to the club, and that’s what Sam does. “I can’t wait to get started”.
