“I fit the chair, I hope I do and I have the experience to pass on and to challenge the team and myself”.
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“I think this group is very experienced and going forward can be producing more performances and better results”.
“Five Premier League clubs has given me a huge amount of experience, nobody in the Premier League has managed five Premier League clubs”.
“The demand has to be on the players for that but it would help the Premier League and us at worldwide level if we could try and achieve that [mid-season break]”.
One theme that Allardyce addressed was trying to take the pressure off the England players, something that was a problem for the team in France, where they seemed to freeze in the defeat to Iceland.
“The individuals and collectively as a teams are very important”.
“I can turn things around pretty quickly and get amongst teams to try to create a successful journey and a successful journey starts with all of us pulling together”. “This will be the greatest challenge for me in my long career and hopefully I will be as successful as I have in the rest of my career”, said the man who has faced criticism down the years for long-ball football. We have to try to get everyone to enjoy themselves.
Allardyce, addressing the media at the National Football Centre at St. George’s Park in Burton-upon-Trent, also confirmed that Sammy Lee will once again form part of his backroom team.
“No, it is far too early to make predictions in that area”, the former Sunderland boss was quoted as saying by Sky Sports at his first press conference since being formally announced as the out-of-contract Hodgson’s successor on Friday (22 July).
“I’m going to leave that until I meet all the players and get all the staff together”, he continued.
The former Sunderland boss spoke in length at the importance of mentally preparing players, who have often appeared to creak under the strain of national expectation at tournaments.
Allardyce said: “I’ve managed world class players – Fernando Hierro, Jay-Jay Okocha, Gary Speed, Nicolas Anelka, Youri Djorkaeff and Michael Owen”. “I’d describe my style as pragmatic”.
“I think choosing styles of systems depends on the players available and who we are playing”.
“Who we play against will determine how we play”. I expect the players to be very adaptable, and very flexible. But look at what I’ve achieved over the years, like not being relegated, and they are big achievements, hard to do.
The ever-confident Allardyce also bullishly outlined his ability to handle the added scrutiny that will fall on his shoulders as England manager.
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He said: “I was good enough then”.
