Training during the Allardyce years at Bolton.

[Guest Knightrider]

Sam Allardyce wants players to talk a good game (but only if it is in English)

George Caulkin

 

Sam Allardyce has insisted that the language barrier at Newcastle United should not block the path to success this season. With nine players bought in the summer and 15 nations represented in the club’s first-team squad, misunderstanding would be a ready-made excuse, but the manager has imposed an English-only edict at the training ground.

 

Having scoured the world to provide his employers with value for money in the transfer market, Allardyce has ensured that his efforts are not undermined by a lack of communication on the pitch. Lessons have been ordered and conversations in French, Spanish or even Geordie patois have been prohibited until the working day has been completed.

 

To date, the plan has succeeded. Given the widespread upheaval at St James’ Park during the close-season - in the boardroom, as well as the dressing-room – Newcastle have probably exceeded expectations; after nine league matches, they stand eighth in the table and trail fourth-placed Liverpool by two points. If they won their game in hand, they would overtake Chelsea and Portsmouth.

 

“When the players are together on a casual basis, I don’t mind them moving back into their own language, because it’s a difficult thing to continually communicate in English if you’re not very good at it,” Allardyce said. “But when we move into the training areas and start training properly, I’ve told them that they have to communicate in English.

Related Links

 

“That communication has to spill over on to the field and, while you can communicate with one or two players who might speak French or a different language, that’s not the answer. It has to be one language for all when we’re training and when we’re playing.

 

Thankfully, the new players are picking up English really well.

 

“Habib [beye] and Claudio [Caçapa] have been great. They were limited, but they’re starting to put sentences together more and more. I’ve told them they have to talk to me in English and tell me what their problems are in the English language. That’s the only way we get them sorted out. When training’s finished and they’re together in the dining room, I have no problem with them speaking their own languages then.”

 

In spite of his reputation for identifying foreign bargains, Allardyce himself is no polyglot. “I don’t speak other languages,” he said, “so the players have to pick up English as quickly as they can. They’re doing that, they’re getting their lessons and they will only improve in the future.” Are transgressors fined? “I haven’t gone that far but, if they persist, I might consider it,” he said.

 

The players approve of the ruling. “The manager wants us to speak English to each other and I’m happy to do that because it’s the language of the team and the country and it’s important for me to learn it very quickly,” said Beye, a Senegal international who joined Newcastle from Marseilles. “My English isn’t too bad, but it’s by no means perfect.”

 

This is from October the 27th so only 2 months ago and an important piece I feel in relation to the topic at hand.

 

The language barrier is a real problem, it hinders coaching and training which has to be absolute.

 

Communication in training is the key to creating the right kind of environment and as we all know training is the most important area of a player and manager's work. I've coached kids and it's amazing how easy and quickly things can break down in training if the communication isn't spot on and how that can effect performances and indeed results.

 

This isn't excusing the manager btw but more me looking into areas that could be hindering the manager, the players and not helping results and performances. Many variables are responsible for results and performances of course (why no team sport can ever be a simple game) but it will always lead to the training ground in my opinion and can only ever worked out on the training ground short of getting rid of players and buying in the finished article and hoping things click. Doesn't work like that though.

 

 

[gray]

No shooting from range and a fine on match days for doing so.

 

quite believable that, I've said we never shoot from outside the area anymore.

[Dave]

Emre?

[Guest redmayne]

i might be loosing my marbles here as its been a heavy one but im sure allardyce didnt take bolton up from the championship

 

[Delima]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolton_Wanderers_F.C.#Recent_history

 

Bolton were relegated on goal difference at the end of the 1997–98 Premiership campaign. Bolton reached the 1999 Division One playoff final but lost to Watford. Todd resigned as manager soon after and was replaced by Sam Allardyce. Bolton reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup and play-offs but lost to Aston Villa and Ipswich Town respectively. In 2000–01 Bolton were promoted back to the Premier League after beating Preston North End in the play-off final.

[merlin]

Allardyce is as responsible for the chopping and changing of the central defence in particular as anyone tbf. Yeah we've had injuries, but we've also dropped players left right and centre on a weekly basis.

 

True, and lest we forget, a TOP manager gets the best out of players at the club and IMPROVES THEM - isn't that what O'Neill has done with Villa's Centre Backs ? OK, they signed Davies, and he's starting to look the business, but there were plenty on this site who didn't rate him as a prospect when he was at WBA..

 

If Allardyce is the genius some are suggesting, he should be improving our CBs, not just chopping & changing them - after all, he WAS a CB himself, whereas O'Neill was a midfielder so even less excuse..

 

Also, as for stating that Allardyce has come all the way from the Irish League to Europe, what the hell difference does that make ? He has ONLY managed ONE club in the top 2 Divisions and they were basically a small club by modern standards..past history needs to be examined in depth before assuming great things of people, and his successes have all been based on workrate primarily - this will NEVER succeed at the top level if it isn't accompanied by a large helping of skills and originality..

Allardyce is 54 next birthday and has NO TROPHIES as a manager - given his 5 year plan, he will presumably be retiring without winning one...

[Guest Toon Barmy]

Sam Allardyce wants players to talk a good game (but only if it is in English)

George Caulkin

 

Sam Allardyce has insisted that the language barrier at Newcastle United should not block the path to success this season. With nine players bought in the summer and 15 nations represented in the club’s first-team squad, misunderstanding would be a ready-made excuse, but the manager has imposed an English-only edict at the training ground.

 

Having scoured the world to provide his employers with value for money in the transfer market, Allardyce has ensured that his efforts are not undermined by a lack of communication on the pitch. Lessons have been ordered and conversations in French, Spanish or even Geordie patois have been prohibited until the working day has been completed.

 

To date, the plan has succeeded. Given the widespread upheaval at St James’ Park during the close-season - in the boardroom, as well as the dressing-room – Newcastle have probably exceeded expectations; after nine league matches, they stand eighth in the table and trail fourth-placed Liverpool by two points. If they won their game in hand, they would overtake Chelsea and Portsmouth.

 

“When the players are together on a casual basis, I don’t mind them moving back into their own language, because it’s a difficult thing to continually communicate in English if you’re not very good at it,” Allardyce said. “But when we move into the training areas and start training properly, I’ve told them that they have to communicate in English.

Related Links

 

“That communication has to spill over on to the field and, while you can communicate with one or two players who might speak French or a different language, that’s not the answer. It has to be one language for all when we’re training and when we’re playing.

 

Thankfully, the new players are picking up English really well.

 

“Habib [beye] and Claudio [Caçapa] have been great. They were limited, but they’re starting to put sentences together more and more. I’ve told them they have to talk to me in English and tell me what their problems are in the English language. That’s the only way we get them sorted out. When training’s finished and they’re together in the dining room, I have no problem with them speaking their own languages then.”

 

In spite of his reputation for identifying foreign bargains, Allardyce himself is no polyglot. “I don’t speak other languages,” he said, “so the players have to pick up English as quickly as they can. They’re doing that, they’re getting their lessons and they will only improve in the future.” Are transgressors fined? “I haven’t gone that far but, if they persist, I might consider it,” he said.

 

The players approve of the ruling. “The manager wants us to speak English to each other and I’m happy to do that because it’s the language of the team and the country and it’s important for me to learn it very quickly,” said Beye, a Senegal international who joined Newcastle from Marseilles. “My English isn’t too bad, but it’s by no means perfect.”

 

This is from October the 27th so only 2 months ago and an important piece I feel in relation to the topic at hand.

 

The language barrier is a real problem, it hinders coaching and training which has to be absolute.

 

Communication in training is the key to creating the right kind of environment and as we all know training is the most important area of a player and manager's work. I've coached kids and it's amazing how easy and quickly things can break down in training if the communication isn't spot on and how that can effect performances and indeed results.

 

This isn't excusing the manager btw but more me looking into areas that could be hindering the manager, the players and not helping results and performances. Many variables are responsible for results and performances of course (why no team sport can ever be a simple game) but it will always lead to the training ground in my opinion and can only ever worked out on the training ground short of getting rid of players and buying in the finished article and hoping things click. Doesn't work like that though.

 

 

 

 

Are you building a dossier of defence for BFS?

[Guest exilim]

And yet it all worked.

 

I think there are a lot of myths regarding Big Sam's methods and ways. Sir Les hailed his training sessions as the best he's seen, as did Gary Speed. I doubt your foreign players like Okocha and Anelka would strive under such conditions either.

 

All I've heard is that Big Sam's sessions are tougher, longer, more complex and more game orientated that usual sessions, this coming from the likes of Speed et al.

 

Very defensive minded all the same though.

 

Yet Bolton were considered an aggressive attacking team that boxed the opposition in and tried to keep them there which their results suggested too.

 

Have you fallen for the..."My success at Bolton"...line? 

 

 

 

FWIW

 

THere are a lot of good things about his training methods, but imo they do tend to suffocate the art of football over the science and stats approach. Just my opinion. No biggie.

 

What Big Sam achieved at Bolton is often overlooked, he took a tiny club up from the championship, saved them from relegation back down and then took them to the heady heights of 6th and European football all on a budget of basically nothing. Year on year they improved in all areas, regularly beat or matched the big boys and attracted a whole host of top names to the Reebok. He also elongated the careers of several past their best stars. And I bet his training methods had a great deal to do with things.

 

I know he didn't win anything but what he did was pretty much on a par with what KK did for us, rebuilt us and took us to the very top. 6th and European football being the top for Bolton.

 

In those years Newcastle went from bad to worse despite an average budget of £8m per season, 50,000 plus crowds and the ability to sign some of the game's biggest names or better players.

 

Furthermore, in his time at Bolton he went from an oldskool manager who preferred to kick arse and bully players to get results into a sophisticated manager clued up in all modern aspects of the game.

 

He deserves respect and far more slack than what he's currently had at Newcastle, a club who Big Sam has had more success than in the last 4 years.

 

Any manager that turns Michael Ricketts into an international, can get an extra 4 years out of Gary Speed, can attract players like Djorkaef, Okocha and Anelka to the Reebok, turn around the careers of wasters like Diouf, beats Man Utd on their own ground, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and our very own club, constantly overachieves and can sniff out bargains like Bolton's 'keeper, deserves massive respect and credit.

 

People also forget where Big Sam has come from, the Irish league all the way into Europe, he's managed at every level bar international.

 

He's no mug.

 

Coach HTT, you probably summarised everything i wanted to say about Sam. Great post.

 

Give the old man some time, he will eventually do great for us surely. I can't believe how a manager can be under such pressure after only 6 months in charge of a football club; plus we are not even near the relegation zone and 6th / 7th / 8th is still achievable for us.

 

I am not saying that we will get either 6th or 7th or 8th at the end of the season, somehow i think even a league position of 10th at the end of this season is an improvement for us. In reality, did we get 13th last season? Yes. Are we a mid table team? Yes. Are the expectations too high for Newcastle? Always a yes.

 

 

 

[Guest Magnetic North]

At the end of the day that list (if true) was about one thing - making it hard for other teams to break Bolton down.

 

What's worrying is that we're not even that. If we were progressively solid as f*** at the back I'd accept a lack of attacking ambition until we had that base to work on, but we're not. We have better personnel IMO, but we're just as s**** at holding on to possession and preventing sloppy goals as we've been for yonks. Only now we're not trying to score either.

 

I can't add to that. That's how this knacker sees it too.

[Guest Magnetic North]

And yet it all worked.

 

I think there are a lot of myths regarding Big Sam's methods and ways. Sir Les hailed his training sessions as the best he's seen, as did Gary Speed. I doubt your foreign players like Okocha and Anelka would strive under such conditions either.

 

All I've heard is that Big Sam's sessions are tougher, longer, more complex and more game orientated that usual sessions, this coming from the likes of Speed et al.

 

Very defensive minded all the same though.

 

Yet Bolton were considered an aggressive attacking team that boxed the opposition in and tried to keep them there which their results suggested too.

 

Have you fallen for the..."My success at Bolton"...line? 

 

 

 

FWIW

 

THere are a lot of good things about his training methods, but imo they do tend to suffocate the art of football over the science and stats approach. Just my opinion. No biggie.

 

What Big Sam achieved at Bolton is often overlooked, he took a tiny club up from the championship, saved them from relegation back down and then took them to the heady heights of 6th and European football all on a budget of basically nothing. Year on year they improved in all areas, regularly beat or matched the big boys and attracted a whole host of top names to the Reebok. He also elongated the careers of several past their best stars. And I bet his training methods had a great deal to do with things.

 

I know he didn't win anything but what he did was pretty much on a par with what KK did for us, rebuilt us and took us to the very top. 6th and European football being the top for Bolton.

 

In those years Newcastle went from bad to worse despite an average budget of £8m per season, 50,000 plus crowds and the ability to sign some of the game's biggest names or better players.

 

Furthermore, in his time at Bolton he went from an oldskool manager who preferred to kick arse and bully players to get results into a sophisticated manager clued up in all modern aspects of the game.

 

He deserves respect and far more slack than what he's currently had at Newcastle, a club who Big Sam has had more success than in the last 4 years.

 

Any manager that turns Michael Ricketts into an international, can get an extra 4 years out of Gary Speed, can attract players like Djorkaef, Okocha and Anelka to the Reebok, turn around the careers of wasters like Diouf, beats Man Utd on their own ground, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and our very own club, constantly overachieves and can sniff out bargains like Bolton's 'keeper, deserves massive respect and credit.

 

People also forget where Big Sam has come from, the Irish league all the way into Europe, he's managed at every level bar international.

 

He's no mug.

 

 

...but that word just seems soooo inappropriate 

[Guest Knightrider]

And yet it all worked.

 

I think there are a lot of myths regarding Big Sam's methods and ways. Sir Les hailed his training sessions as the best he's seen, as did Gary Speed. I doubt your foreign players like Okocha and Anelka would strive under such conditions either.

 

All I've heard is that Big Sam's sessions are tougher, longer, more complex and more game orientated that usual sessions, this coming from the likes of Speed et al.

 

Very defensive minded all the same though.

 

Yet Bolton were considered an aggressive attacking team that boxed the opposition in and tried to keep them there which their results suggested too.

 

Have you fallen for the..."My success at Bolton"...line? 

 

 

 

FWIW

 

THere are a lot of good things about his training methods, but imo they do tend to suffocate the art of football over the science and stats approach. Just my opinion. No biggie.

 

What Big Sam achieved at Bolton is often overlooked, he took a tiny club up from the championship, saved them from relegation back down and then took them to the heady heights of 6th and European football all on a budget of basically nothing. Year on year they improved in all areas, regularly beat or matched the big boys and attracted a whole host of top names to the Reebok. He also elongated the careers of several past their best stars. And I bet his training methods had a great deal to do with things.

 

I know he didn't win anything but what he did was pretty much on a par with what KK did for us, rebuilt us and took us to the very top. 6th and European football being the top for Bolton.

 

In those years Newcastle went from bad to worse despite an average budget of £8m per season, 50,000 plus crowds and the ability to sign some of the game's biggest names or better players.

 

Furthermore, in his time at Bolton he went from an oldskool manager who preferred to kick arse and bully players to get results into a sophisticated manager clued up in all modern aspects of the game.

 

He deserves respect and far more slack than what he's currently had at Newcastle, a club who Big Sam has had more success than in the last 4 years.

 

Any manager that turns Michael Ricketts into an international, can get an extra 4 years out of Gary Speed, can attract players like Djorkaef, Okocha and Anelka to the Reebok, turn around the careers of wasters like Diouf, beats Man Utd on their own ground, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and our very own club, constantly overachieves and can sniff out bargains like Bolton's 'keeper, deserves massive respect and credit.

 

People also forget where Big Sam has come from, the Irish league all the way into Europe, he's managed at every level bar international.

 

He's no mug.

 

 

...but that word just seems soooo inappropriate 

 

It does, but again he is no mug. It's heartening to hear from Brummie that MON made the kind of decisions Big Sam has made thus far at Villa last season and had people scratching their heads in the same kind of what the fuck's he doing way, although without the boos and wanting the manager sacked that has followed wor man this season.

 

I'll say it again: There's a method to the madness and things will be turned around but only if he's giving time and some money because he is a good manager as his results at Bolton prove. And I'm not just talking about wins either, but everything he did there.

[Guest LucaAltieri]

What Big Sam achieved at Bolton is often overlooked, he took a tiny club up from the championship, saved them from relegation back down and then took them to the heady heights of 6th and European football all on a budget of basically nothing. Year on year they improved in all areas, regularly beat or matched the big boys and attracted a whole host of top names to the Reebok. He also elongated the careers of several past their best stars. And I bet his training methods had a great deal to do with things.

 

I know he didn't win anything but what he did was pretty much on a par with what KK did for us, rebuilt us and took us to the very top. 6th and European football being the top for Bolton.

 

In those years Newcastle went from bad to worse despite an average budget of £8m per season, 50,000 plus crowds and the ability to sign some of the game's biggest names or better players.

 

Furthermore, in his time at Bolton he went from an oldskool manager who preferred to kick arse and bully players to get results into a sophisticated manager clued up in all modern aspects of the game.

 

He deserves respect and far more slack than what he's currently had at Newcastle, a club who Big Sam has had more success than in the last 4 years.

 

Any manager that turns Michael Ricketts into an international, can get an extra 4 years out of Gary Speed, can attract players like Djorkaef, Okocha and Anelka to the Reebok, turn around the careers of wasters like Diouf, beats Man Utd on their own ground, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and our very own club, constantly overachieves and can sniff out bargains like Bolton's 'keeper, deserves massive respect and credit.

 

People also forget where Big Sam has come from, the Irish league all the way into Europe, he's managed at every level bar international.

 

He's no mug.

 

I can never remember how to spell Jääskeläinen either.

 

Agree entirely by the way. I don't know what people were expecting in 6 months. He's certainly done enough with Bolton (a poor club in every sense when compared with Newcastle) over the years to deserve the benefit of the doubt, at least for the first season.

 

The things people complain about (playing zog at left-back with Enrique on the bench etc) seem bizzare to us, however, there is most certainly a reason behind what he's doing. I don't pretend to know what it is and its arrogant of the "SAMS AND IDIOT!!!1!!" brigade to assume he's just missed the obvious while they have the answer.

 

Yeah, we're crap. But its much quicker and easier to trash something than to repair it. We've had so many years of inept management (at all levels) that the clean-up job is bound to take time.