But interestingly, in his autobiography Sam Allardyce Big Sam, published late previous year, the former Bolton Wanderers manager said he was asked in his 2006 interview for the national position what he would be do “if a player came walking into the dressing room talking away on his mobile”. “I’ve obviously never worked with him but I’ve spoken to people who have who say he’s the right man for the job”.
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“I fit the chair, I hope I do and I have the experience to pass on and to challenge the team and myself”.
“I think [managing] five Premier League clubs has given me a huge amount of experience and nobody else in the Premier League clubs”.
Uruguayan Gus Poyet took over from caretaker manager Kevin Ball in October 2013 and guided the club to 14th place. The FA said Allardyce, who became favourite once Under-21 coach Gareth Southgate said he wasn’t interested in the job and Arsene Wenger said he wanted to see out his contract at Arsenal, had been the unanimous choice of the three-man panel deployed to select the manager.
“I think the England fanbase will want re-inspiring, and I can’t think of a better person to re-inspire an England fanbase than Sam Allardyce”.
Allardyce left Sunderland after keeping the Black Cats in the Premier League last season and has not been a universally popular appointment but Glenn believes he can inspire and win over any doubters.
Allardyce was officially unveiled at St. George’s Park this morning and is determined to lead the Three Lions to success after years of disappointment.
“I expect the players to be very flexible and adaptable”.
Allardyce told reporters: “The bonding of the team is exceptionally important and trying to create a good team spirit and to have some fun”.
He revealed: “If you want me to be honest, he [Allardyce] hasn’t been a major thing in our training, especially the way the gaffer used to treat the training”.
The 61-year-old is confident his man-management skills can make a difference to England’s tournament football. While most leagues shut shop for three to four weeks in December-January, English teams end up playing more fixtures due to the heavily congested fixture calendar. “The demand on players is enormous”, he explained.
England looked dispirited and disjointed against Iceland in a new low for the national team and the loss was met with scathing criticism back home.
“In my time, January and February was always the most hard time to try and get the players through”.
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“I’ve managed some world class players”.
