10 things you didn’t know about Sam

As Sam Allardyce is appointed England boss, here are 10 things you may not know about the national team manager…

1. Both his parents are Scottish

Yes, you read that right. Allardyce is seen as a man who plays proper English football with a strong northern background, but the new England manager is in fact of Scottish descent. Although he was born and raised in Dudley and spent his whole career as a player and manager in England, barring very brief spells at Tampa Bay and Limerick, his parents Robert and Mary both originated in Scotland.

2. He loves getting in the middle of a rivalry

It’s not often a manager moves between one of the biggest rivalries in English football – but Allardyce has done so twice. Allardyce is the first manager in history to have managed both Newcastle and Sunderland and he has also managed both Bolton and Blackburn.

3. He HAS been relegated as a manager

A well-known fact about Allardyce is that he has never been relegated from the Premier League as a manager and that hiring him is a sure fire way to save your side from impending demotion to the second tier, as he has shown most recently with Sunderland last season. He does in fact have one blemish on his record though, back in his second managerial job at Notts County his side were relegated bottom of the third tier at the end of the 1996/97 season. The boss quickly made sure this was a one off by winning the fourth tier the following season with a record amount of points and by a 17 point margin, from which he has never looked back.

4. His son was also a professional footballer

Allardyce’s son Craig followed in his father’s footsteps in signing a professional football contract, although his career never really took off in the same way as that of his dad. Craig joined Preston’s youth ranks while Sam was on the coaching staff but only made one senior appearance for the club before …

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