“The bonding of the team is exceptionally important and trying to create a good team spirit and to have some fun.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Since Newcastle I’ve had a fantastic time at Blackburn and then here, at West Ham.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Football is a worldwide business consortium and to satisfy that best you need to find the best players.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Finishing in the top four for Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Man United was easier before, but now it’s getting much more difficult with the emergence of teams like Manchester City.”
― Sam Allardyce
“I believe first of all it’s always a disappointment to lose the players at an important moment of the season.”
― Sam Allardyce
“In adversity you have to become stronger and make sure you don’t make those mistakes again so you learn from it.”
― Sam Allardyce
“I always like working with young people, it keeps you young.”
― Sam Allardyce
“There is a lot of pressure at first when you first take over a club that’s struggling but you want to go and do your best for yourself, your family and the club that employ you.”
― Sam Allardyce
“I want to be able to savour life while I’m still relatively young and when I’m still relatively healthy enough to do all the things I want to do, like travel, spend more time with my family and grandchildren without the huge pressure that comes with being a football manager.”
― Sam Allardyce
“If a better player comes along, I will try to persuade the club to get him in. Sometimes, you can do your business and all of a sudden something appears that you never expected to appear.”
― Sam Allardyce
“There’s always that time in football where people say that when you have the dip, it’s how well do you overcome it. And when you do overcome it, you then end up being a much better player and generally your career lasts a lot longer after getting through that period.”
― Sam Allardyce
“You have to keep control mentally when you go a goal down.”
― Sam Allardyce
“The more goals you concede ultimately results in the bottom three, not the more goals you score.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Defending is an art, everybody has forgotten it.”
― Sam Allardyce
“I coach defending an awful lot but I don’t think too many teams in the Premier League or in the world of football actually coach defending anymore, certainly not the full-backs.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Football today means players stay less now than ever before and you have to accept that. As a manager, a big part of your business is doing far too much business that you don’t want to do really.”
― Sam Allardyce
“We are in a position where we always have to change more players than we really want to and that brings a lot of instability and makes your job so much harder than it should be, because players come and go almost at the drop of the hat.”
― Sam Allardyce
“People seem to expect when that happens, for players to be brought in that are so much better than the ones that have left. In the end they might be better but in the beginning they might be worse. Because they all have to gel and get to know each other and get to know you.”
― Sam Allardyce
“I’ve worked at St James’ and in the first game of the season there the fans will lift the players.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Everybody thinks they can do my job better than me, they always feel you’ve got to throw caution to the wind and that’s the way supporters are.”
― Sam Allardyce
“The problem for me is we are denying British coaches positions in all divisions now, particularly in the top division and the Championship. We need to do something about that. As a country, as the FA, as the Premier League, we need to protect the position of our own highly qualified coaches who are not even getting an interview now.”
― Sam Allardyce
“I have to remind Arsene about his team, which used to win the league, that was the dirtiest team in the league. If you cast your mind back to when they were winning the league, they had more seedings-off and bookings than anyone else.”
― Sam Allardyce
“A group of players go out and win a game in a style that gets the best out of them. That’s the key to management.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Far too much emphasis on what is deemed the ‘wrong’ style of football. That’s what annoys me. Your style depends on who you’re playing and what group of players you have at your disposal.”
― Sam Allardyce
“People too often – because it’s an easy, lazy tag – dwell on my style of football.”
― Sam Allardyce
“My model is much deeper than looking after players. My model is understanding the industry, working within it.”
― Sam Allardyce
“It’s not a very secure industry but it’s one we all love and enjoy doing.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Football is to be enjoyed and I’ve enjoyed my life in football for many years, it’s the pinnacle of my career and I want to enjoy it the most.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Man-management is my biggest asset, to help the players enjoy themselves and be better than they already are.”
― Sam Allardyce
“I’m hardened over many years. You toughen yourself for whatever job. You either take the good with the bad or don’t bother.”
― Sam Allardyce
“I think that the problem for any player you want to select for England, not just in isolation, is that it’ll be a concern if that player doesn’t play for his team.”
― Sam Allardyce
“The vast sums of money that are coming in at the top end of the game are stretching the rest of the sides to try to get as much benefit out of what finance they’ve got and get the best players they can find for that finance.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Now astronomical wages are making it very difficult to take somebody who might not even have a transfer fee attached to them, because of the net value that they want and the net value that they’re worth.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Just because a player drops down a division, it doesn’t mean he’s turned into a bad player overnight and isn’t good enough for England.”
― Sam Allardyce
“The England team shouldn’t be picked on whichever players are in the Premier League when you’ve got a Premier League player playing in the Championship.”
― Sam Allardyce
“I am very shocked and disappointed to be leaving Blackburn Rovers. I am extremely proud to have managed this club and I enjoyed a fantastic relationship with the players, my staff and the supporters during my time in charge.”
― Sam Allardyce
“It’s great having the best league in the world, no doubt about that, but the downside of that is the national team will suffer.”
― Sam Allardyce
“If you’re talking about English football very few teams play 4-4-2 now: it’s either 4-4-1-1, 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, they are the three major systems played throughout the Premier League.”
― Sam Allardyce
“I have always said that managers stay in a job when they win football matches.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Jay Jay Okocha. On and off the field he was the captain you looked for.”
― Sam Allardyce
“I am not a great sleeper, so 30 minutes of meditation, they say in research, is as good as two or three hours sleep, which is why you feel better.”
― Sam Allardyce
“What is entertainment? Entertainment is the master of defence in Europe – Simeone.”
― Sam Allardyce
“A quality player is a quality player.”
― Sam Allardyce
“It is very important to me to communicate with the fans and not hide what’s going on behind the scenes.”
― Sam Allardyce
“I have a great amount of enthusiasm, and I am a man who knows how to do this job inside out because of the experience I’ve gained over the years.”
― Sam Allardyce
“We’ve got the greatest Premier League, greatest domestic competition in the world but the downside of that is we’ve got fewer and fewer English players playing in that league.”
― Sam Allardyce
“There’s always going to be a time when there’s a difficult period and my responsibility is to manage the players through that. You have to make sure you bring stability back to the club and get where you want to be.”
― Sam Allardyce
“I don’t have to prove a point to anybody. The only thing I do is continue to do my job and all the outside press can do and say what they want to because that’s their right and their industry.”
― Sam Allardyce
“My confidence is in myself and how I run a football club and I’ve been doing that for many, many years now.”
― Sam Allardyce
“My management skills are more suited to developing teams to be better than what they were before, and not just about avoiding relegation.”
― Sam Allardyce
“My main aim is to finish as high up the top of the Premier League as possible. I have the ability to help teams survive.”
― Sam Allardyce
“We live in a world that builds people’s expectations so high, so when the downside comes there is a knee-jerk reaction.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Teams with limited budgets will always find times tough and results won’t always go your way.”
― Sam Allardyce
“You cannot just force ‘the only way to play is this way’ in this country.”
― Sam Allardyce
“My parents are from Scotland and my sister and brother were both born in Scotland so my heritage is from there.”
― Sam Allardyce
“When you hit that safe 40-point mark it’s very easy for a player to think about his holidays and actually switch off.”
― Sam Allardyce
“I think accepting an instruction is part of a player’s responsibility.”
― Sam Allardyce
“I’ve always thought Everton was a great club.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Ambition is important for any manager or coach, owner or director.”
― Sam Allardyce
“When will the first manager manage at a professional level having learned his trade on ‘FIFA 16,’ ’17,’ or ’18?’ I’ve watched my grandson on it, I’ve watched him buy players and sell them to get to the top of the league and it’s teaching him how to manage. The knowledge base that they build up would be very interesting down the line.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Everybody walks around talking about, ‘Sam Allardyce’s style is not good enough, he doesn’t play the right way’ and so on and so forth and it is a massive problem for me. People believe it. You believe the false lies, the false implications. Football does that – it believes that lie sometimes.”
― Sam Allardyce
“The type of football I played at Everton, the fans said it wasn’t good enough and I would say the same – I knew it wasn’t good enough for Everton – but I knew I had to get them in the position where they were safe.”
― Sam Allardyce
“It is about trying to entertain and win, that is the ultimate, but you have to keep winning first to change the things that need to change.”
― Sam Allardyce
“If I got sacked because my results weren’t good enough at Everton, I accept it, but getting sacked when they finish eighth, it is ridiculous. In fact, it is ludicrous.”
― Sam Allardyce
“One of my best friendships dwindled in the pub business – we still talk, but it challenged that friendship too much – and that taught me to go into football and find people that I can have good relations with but without being overly friendly.”
― Sam Allardyce
“When does every fan like the manager?”
― Sam Allardyce
“No matter what people say outside of football, we don’t work for money, we work for the love of the game and the money is something that follows.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Any football club that is any good is down to the manager more than anything else.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Arsene has most of the media in his pocket now and is almost – almost – affecting the officials so that you can’t tackle an Arsenal player. That’s something he’s very clever at working on and it’s almost working in his favour, you can see that.”
― Sam Allardyce
“You have to try to win the ball at all costs and if someone doesn’t get it quite right people get injured.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Most young talented players I worked with over many, many years who I’ve met later have said, ‘Oh, I wish I’d listened to you.’ When you meet them later in life they regret not taking the opportunity with the talent they had.”
― Sam Allardyce
“There’s only a certain amount of times you can tell somebody what they should or shouldn’t be doing. If they don’t want to take it on board there’s little you can do.”
― Sam Allardyce
“It’s never just about talent, it’s about a lot more than that.”
― Sam Allardyce
“I want my team to win.”
― Sam Allardyce
“My time at Bolton was fantastic. I didn’t want to go. It’s a fantastic stadium with fantastic fans, but I want to disappoint them.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Have transfer prices in England surprised me? No. Are the prices over-inflated? Yes. But there is no surprise now.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Expectation builds the one thing you must have when you get to a new stadium when it’s built, which is a winning team.”
― Sam Allardyce
“It’s always a good time to play against a team when they come back from Europe, whether it’s the Europa League or Champions League.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Busquets is a sitting midfield player who breaks up play, intercepts, passes it very quickly and is intelligent. That’s what he is. He’s not much more than that, but he gets a lot of praise for it. Whereas Eric Dier does a similar job, but sometimes gets loads of criticism for it.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Busquets has been a great player for Spain and Barcelona, don’t get me wrong. He’s a very effective player and is the first pick for every manager because he plays such a simple game. But we laud him as a genius, whereas our own we don’t, we criticise.”
― Sam Allardyce
“As a manager, you look at who is going to get the fans on the edge of the seats.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Your cruciate ligament, like many long-term injuries… when they come back they’re expected to be what they were before the injury. While fit it sometimes takes a little bit longer for some than others.”
― Sam Allardyce
“I’m not suited to Bolton or Blackburn, I would be more suited to Inter or Real Madrid. It wouldn’t be a problem to me to go and manage those clubs because I would win the double or the league every time. Give me Manchester United or Chelsea and I would do the same, it wouldn’t be a problem.”
― Sam Allardyce
“It’s extremely depressing that a country of this magnitude, and where it thinks it lies in itself, can allow so many foodbanks to be operating in this country.”
― Sam Allardyce
“For the record, I’ve never taken a bung in my life. I might have enjoyed a meal or a bottle of wine on an agent or two but that is it. I was earning ã1.5m a year, so I didn’t need a little bit extra from an agent. It would have been madness.”
― Sam Allardyce
“If a player digests his own statistical information in his own time, on his own laptop, tablet or whatever, without a coach standing over him, it makes it easier for him. It helps with the pressure. There’s a fear factor but spending time at home analysing things can help control it.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Historically almost every team I’ve managed has returned from even just a five-day break with improved physical output.”
― Sam Allardyce
“From an early stage in my career, if you’re talking about picking up knowledge, it would have been via Ian Greaves who was involved in my success as a young player at Bolton. And working under managers such as Bobby Gould and George Graham helped me to expand my knowledge at bit more.”
― Sam Allardyce
“As the game changes you have to change with it.”
― Sam Allardyce
“As much as I liked Wolves as a boy and it was a childhood dream to play and perhaps manage for the club, I’ve come to Bolton and this is where I want to stay.”
― Sam Allardyce
“My dad would be down at the social club and my mum would be looking after us. Their time out together was limited to birthdays and, particularly being Scottish, to Hogmanay and Christmas.”
― Sam Allardyce
“It’s difficult in your life when both parents pass so quickly and you’re not really that old when they move on. There is a big gap in your life. There’s a hole. You learn to live with it but never forget it.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Mum wasn’t scared of dad but I’m sure she got fed up with him taking her for granted… When I look back it was an empty relationship but I doubt there was ever a question of them splitting up. It wasn’t the done thing.”
― Sam Allardyce
“My dad was a pretty social animal when he wasn’t working.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Whoever you are playing and whatever you are playing against you have to weigh up tactically how you approach that game. That has always been a part of my make-up, having made my way through every division and finding out what management is all about.”
― Sam Allardyce
“To say we have to play a certain way, or try to, every game is great in theory, but depending what players you have got you have to play to their strengths and cover up their weaknesses.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Too many times I have had to sacrifice a trophy or the chance of winning one because the owners have said you have to stay in the Premier League at all costs.”
― Sam Allardyce
“I had four great years at West Ham. People will always refer to the difficulties at certain times, but you get those everywhere.”
― Sam Allardyce
“The satisfaction for me is that when you leave somewhere you look at what you are leaving and I know I left West Ham in great shape.”
― Sam Allardyce
“Believe me, I look back on West Ham in a good way.”
― Sam Allardyce
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