Another manager comes and goes at the toon, achieves bugger all and leaves with his trousers stuffed with so much cash he has to be carried off in a removal van. Different face, same story but I’m trying not to feel too sorry for Allardyce; the millions will dull the pain of his dismissal, as will the luxury holiday in the Caribbean shortly before his next lucrative job offer. Not that I’m bitter, I just wish I could get that kind of contract for my own job.
Unlike his predecessors Roeder and Souness, I didn’t greet his appointment with dismay (or in Souness’s case, dismay, disgust, disbelief and nausea, the whole shebang). At the same time, I didn’t particularly like Allardyce’s style of football at Bolton and, to be frank, I thought he was a whingeing egotistical git. However he had the reputation of a meticulous planner and organiser, someone who could rebuild the foundations of the club which was badly needed, and eradicate the injury curse which had bedevilled us for seasons. I reckon many people felt the same way; given the state of the club, Allardyce wasn’t so bad (Bolton after all had just qualified for Europe) - maybe even the best we could get given the state of the club - and should be given a chance.
So, as the bellboy famously said to George Best (as he laid spreadeagled on a bed covered in cash next to Miss World), where did it all go wrong? It was all so different when Big Sam breezed into town, confidently predicting that he would get the club back on its feet with his methodical approach, vast backroom staff and use of sports science. Eight months later, his fat arse hits the toon scrapheap with a resounding clang and we are left scratching our heads wondering what the hell went wrong. Here’s my take:
1. The demise of the Axis of Evil (aka the Halls/Shepherds)
No doubt to Allardyce's dismay, the club changed hands barely before he’d had time to unpack his medicine balls and chewing gum. In retrospect, one of the key reasons he was appointed by Freddy Shepherd was probably his ability to wheel and deal in the transfer market; the club was after all heavily in debt and transfer funds would be limited pending an upswing in the club's fortunes. Mike Ashley on the other hand had plenty of cash for the right man to spend on his new plaything; unfortunately Allardyce was not Ashley's man. As a result, whilst Ashley wiped out the clubs debts, the club stalled on signings in the summer - which Allardyce complained about at the time, claiming that the change of ownership had lost him many of his key targets - and only a modest amount of signings were made which were largely funded through player sales (the net spend was only 7m or so).
The clear message was therefore “prove to us that you’re the right man to spend the big bucks”. Sadly Allardyce was unable to do this in many ways. Whether the impetus for his dismissal was a row with Ashley over cash for transfers, the style of football or the lack of results, Allardyce was never likely to get the same patience from Ashley that he would have had from Freddy Shepherd.
2. The dodgy transfers
Allardyce deserves credit for clearing out much of the dead wood of previous administrations with the likes of Moore, Bramble and Luque hoyed out amidst much rejoicing by the faithful. For cancelling Babayaro’s contract alone, I will shake his hand if I ever meet him (provided he hasn't read this), and my only regret in this respect is that he didn't get round to our other perma-crock Stephen Carr at the same time. However the squad was already thin in numbers and with transfer funds evidently limited, he needed to bring in quality at a cheap price, something he was renowned for at Bolton.
A plethora of new signings were duly made before deadline day with the likes of Beye, Cacapa, Rozenhal, Smith, Faye, Enrique, Geremi and Viduka coming on board. On paper, these players seemed just what was needed towards adding strength and depth to the squad. However, how many of these players has really done the business for us over the 24 matches he was in charge? Possibly only Beye and Faye emerge with any real credit; for the rest, they have either needed to settle in (Cacapa, Rozenhal), lose weight and find some bloody motivation (Enrique, Viduka) or play in their proper position (Smith). I'm sure he will feel that many of his signings let him down.
And then there’s Joey Barton. Allardyce will have staked a huge amount of personal credibility on Barton’s signing, citing his successful record with bad boys like ‘Le Sulk’ Anelka and El Hadji ‘I spit in your face pigdog’ Diouf. Barton repaid Allardyce’s faith in him with indifferent displays on the pitch – at a time when we desperately needed him to fire – and by getting banged up over the festive season on charges of assault and battery (Happy New Year Sam, love Joey). It’s difficult to imagine that Ashley or Mort were impressed with his advocacy of Barton given what happened and what it said about Allardyce’s judgement. That’s like the chief engineer on the Titanic attacking a passenger with a monkey wrench and getting locked up in the brig with the iceberg looming. Nice one, Joey!
Given all of the above, with the new transfer window in full swing, it seems that Mike Ashley was not prepared to bankroll another round of Allardyce’s signings. It’s not difficult to see why when these are likely to be expensive signings rather than free dips into the bin ends of smaller European clubs.
3. The results
A win ratio of 33% was never going to good enough to keep him in a job (Roeder got 40% for God’s sake!) but more tellingly it was the nature of our defeats that counted against Allardyce most. Allardyce’s football philosophy seems to be that you 'win ugly' with percentage football – long balls pumped into the 'right areas' to win throw ins, corners and free kicks, scoring scruffy goals from set pieces – unfortunately more often than not, he only managed to lose ugly. Worse still there were some embarrassing results – losing to Derby and Wigan for instance, or the total shoeing off Liverpool – where we bent over and bared our cheeks before a ball was kicked.
While initially results were good (notwithstanding an embarrassing reverse at Derby), as time went on, the results got steadily worse. All the time, Allardyce refused to budge from his mantra of percentage football, stopping the opposition playing (regardless of whether they were any good), picking his favourites regardless of form or position, or making any concessions to entertainment. Perhaps more telling was the lack of ambition showed against the basement opposition, with a lucky draw at Sunderland incensing many fans in particular due to his tactics and team selection. This, I believe, proved to be dangerous when the owner stands with the fans to watch the match.
All of this would not have been an issue if Allardyce had got the results he needed, but the repeated spectre of a team in disarray, pumping the long ball forward and mustering precious little goal threat over the 90 minutes was always likely to be fatal against a backdrop of losses and lucky draws and a downward trajectory in the league table. Little wonder then that he was vulnerable when the paying customers booed the team off the pitch at home and away, and even memorably booed Allardyce when he caught the ball. Personally, I do not believe that Ashley was unduly swayed by the fans’ poor opinion of Allardyce, but fan hostility added to unacceptable results and boring football usually adds up to a P45 in the world of football.
For me, the most disappointing aspect was that there was little sign that the team was actually improving, notwithstanding that we seemed to be making clear progress in reducing the injury list and having a fuller squad to pick from than Roeder or Souness. The Holy Gospel according to the Press, Premier League managers and TV pundits (many of whom are Allardyce’s mates) is that he should have been allowed much more time to get things right. However, if the team is going backwards, the punters are walking out 20 minutes into the second half and the football’s dreadful after 8 months of intensive coaching, you might be tempted to conclude your manager doesn’t have a clue how to sort things out.
4. Player power
Strong rumours have persisted throughout the season that Allardyce had lost the dressing room. These rumours cited differences over tactics, team selection and favouritism, with senior players in open revolt over Allardyce’s emphasis on stopping the opposition from playing and percentage football. At one point, it was felt necessary for certain senior players to issue a press release denying the truth of these rumours. Then there was the issue of the players travelling rather than being at home over the Christmas period, where Allardyce it seems was forced to back down in the face of player pressure (thus ironically allowing Barton to go out on the lash).
It was however notable that Allardyce became more and more openly critical of his own players as time wore on. Surprisingly he admitted that many of his new defensive signings were not his first choice, as if he expected the men in question to be flattered by this admission. Then he began to pick on individual performances and name players he was disappointed with – when have you ever heard Ferguson or Wenger criticise their own players in public? Finally towards the end of his reign, he openly said he was not happy to place his trust in the players he had to safeguard his position. Hardly a vote of confidence in his own team then.
Of course, the players continued to make positive noises about ‘being right behind Big Sam’, but often the lacklustre performances on the pitch suggested otherwise. My impression was that all was not well between manager and playing staff and in these days of player power, a manager who loses the dressing room tends not to be employed for long. Perhaps we’ll have to wait for Michael Owen’s autobiography to learn whether there was any substance in the rumours.
5. The Panorama effect
Freddy Shepherd was hastily booted out of St James’ Park and his corporate box was cancelled. The gossip at the time – which has not been substantiated in any way – was that this was connected with allegations of impropriety over the transfer of Boumsong and the police raid on the club in connection with these. At the same time, Allardyce was Shepherd’s pick and had allegations levied against him in a BBC Panorama expose of football’s murky world of transfer dealings involving his son at Bolton. To date, those allegations have not been rebutted as far as I'm aware and Allardyce has maintained a determined boycott of the BBC in response.
Whilst Allardyce denied any wrongdoing and to date has not been charged with any offence, it may be that a scrupulously proper City lawyer like Chris Mort would be troubled by the association with Allardyce. To my mind, this would not be a decisive factor in any move to dismiss Allardyce, but would be another reason for his card to be marked. You may find it ironic that we then chased Redknapp, but then he was never really fingered by the programme and he certainly was never Shepherd's man.
6. Clash of the Titans
Finally, the impact of egos in all of this cannot be underestimated. Ashley and Mort are very successful businessmen who are not used to people saying no. Indeed, Ashley is noted for ‘parking his tanks on the lawn’ in business situations to get his own way, and the manner in which he comprehensively outmanoeuvred Freddy Shepherd in buying the club illustrates the decisive and impulsive way in which he does business. Allardyce by the same token has complete conviction in his footballing methods, and a precondition of accepting the manager’s job was that he would be allowed to run things as wanted.
Whilst he has been allowed to make the changes to the coaching, scouting, training and medical set ups at the club that he demanded, it does not seem too far fetched to imagine that there was a ‘come to Jesus’ meeting with Mort and Ashley at which certain demands for improvement in performance and results were made, which Allardyce refused to accept or acknowledge. Indeed, it is probable that Allardyce continued to maintain that all was rosy in the garden when the evidence was obvious that the whole garden was riddled with blackspot and greenfly and needed to be burnt to the ground. Allardyce probably felt secure enough for the remainder of the season to put forward a ‘back me or sack me’ line, believing that he would turn it around eventually. In Wild West terms, at that point Ashley kicked over the table, drew his gun and filled Allardyce with lead, with Mort left as the undertaker.
In retrospect, I reckon Allardyce was a man who simply could not hack it in the white hot cauldron of pressure that is Newcastle. Certainly there seemed to be a palpable sense of relief about him once it was over, despite his claim of crushing disappointment at leaving. I've even heard it suggested that he hastened his own departure on purpose, the idea being that he was only too glad to get away with a bumper pay-off, a large dollop of sympathy from the press and his reputation intact. Personally I don't buy that; Allardyce has always struck me as a man of convinced of his own ability, unshakeable in his belief in himself and his methods, the man who should be managing England. Whilst he will be relieved to be out of the firing line, and the money will no doubt soothe the pain somewhat, I don't think he will be happy about failing - although I doubt he will blame himself, as usual.
In the meantime the club's been royally savaged on all sides for its apparent presumption in sacking Allardyce after 24 matches, when apparently with more time and backing he would have been just as good as Ferguson or Wenger. Or even David Moyes perhaps! Now, you can criticise the timing of the decision and the fact that no-one was lined up to replace him, or even the lack of ambition in pursuing Harry bloody Redknapp, but in my opinion all the time in the world would not have made Allardyce a top class manager or Newcastle a top side in his hands. We would have had a nice empty stadium though. Say what you like about Allardyce, his sides are by and large terrible to watch, and Mike Ashley is a man who likes to win and have fun doing it. Exit Not-So-Big-Sam-After-All, tail between legs.
Overall, I believe that Allardyce was sacked because he was not Ashley’s man and the results were not good enough. The fact that his teams played awful football and he was unloved by the fans and players did not help, and I am sure that his unwillingness to compromise hastened his departure. Worst of all, it seems obvious now that he was dismissed on impulse without a better alternative being signed, sealed and delivered to take over. As we look back on this whole sorry episode therefore, it will seem to the seasoned observer that not much has changed since the haphazard hire ‘em and fire ‘em days of the Halls and Shepherds, and we have not learned from our past mistakes whilst the rest of the footballing world hoots with delight. God help us all.
Kitman.
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