Big Sam proud Sam Allardyce
Sam Allardyce

Sam Allardyce

LONDON. — Sam Allardyce said yesterday that he was “very proud” to be named the new England manager, but refused to confirm that star striker Wayne Rooney would remain as captain.

The 61-year-old succeeds Roy Hodgson, who quit after England humiliatingly lost to minnows Iceland in the last 16 of Euro 2016 soccer finals, triggering another bout of soul-searching in English football.

The fate of Rooney — both as a starter in the team and as skipper — is among the weighty issues Allardyce will need to confront.

“It is far too early to make any predictions and I will not make any decisions until I meet the players and coaching staff,” said Allardyce, who revealed that Sammy Lee, an assistant to him at Bolton and who has previous England experience under Sven-Goran Eriksson, would be part of his backroom staff.

“It is my first day in and getting my feet under the table and meeting everyone.”

Allardyce, who looked relaxed to the extent he dispensed with the formal attire of a tie, said his strength was his well-earned reputation as a man capable of going in and motivating the players to believe in themselves.

“It is 10 years since I was last interviewed and to be here is a huge thrill for me,” said Allardyce, who lost out to Steve McClaren after Eriksson stepped down following the 2006 World Cup.

“I fit the chair, I hope I do and I have the experience to pass on and to challenge the team and myself.

“Man-management is my biggest asset — one, to help the players enjoy themselves, and two, to make them better than they already are.

“I have a reputation for turning a club around very quickly but I consider myself to be much more than that.

“I can turn things around and I start by doing that by getting amongst the staff and the team and setting out on a journey.

“To be a successful journey, though, it has to be everybody pulling together.”

Meanwhile, Allardyce is the perfect man to galvanise and restore the confidence of the England team, according to FA technical director Dan Ashworth.

Allardyce will lead England into their qualification campaign for the 2018 World Cup in Russia on the back of a dispiriting Euro 2016 tournament, which saw Roy Hodgson’s young side crash out in an embarrassing 2-1 defeat to Iceland. That defeat cost Hodgson his job and Ashworth believes Allardyce will pick the players up and help them take their club form onto the international stage.

“He’s brilliant at galvanising,” Ashworth told Sky Sports News. “He will galvanise the players and the supporters. We all need picking up and leading into hopefully a successful qualifying campaign for Russia and then the tournament itself. I’m sure Sam will be ideal for that.

“We have a lot of good, young technical players. We were the youngest squad at the Euros, we think there’s a lot of growth in those players who will be better for the experience they’ve just had. He’s an acute tactician and he will get the best out of the players.

“The sign of a good manager is they add value to teams and managers and Sam over his long and distinguished career has added value to every single one of the teams he has been in charge of.”

Ashworth said the FA always wanted to appoint an English manager and said Allardyce stood out because of his long-term commitment to analytics and sports science.

“We felt it was really important we explored all the English candidates,” he added. “We felt it was important to have an English manager in charge of the England team. “We wanted to join up St George’s Park and make sure the development teams have a route through to the senior team. There is lots of innovation around sports psychology, strength and conditioning, nutrition and Sam has a track record of buying into all of those things and fully utilising them around all his teams.” — AFP.

You Might Also Like

Comments

Take our Survey

We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey