BIG SAM’S BIG PLANS
Allardyce insists big changes at the club and the new stadium will ensure topfour football for Everton
SAM ALLARDYCE believes major changes have already happened at Everton – that will take the club towards the top four.
The Blues boss has come under increasing pressure from fans, who do not seem to have taken to his style of football.
Thousands of supporters walked out early before the end of the 1-1 draw against Southampton on Saturday, instead of waiting for the traditional lap of honour following the final match of the season at Goodison Park.
It was widely interpreted as a protest at club owner Farhad Moshiri, and his reluctance to listen to fans who want to see sweeping changes in the summer.
Yet, Allardyce feels the biggest change of all – and the most important – has already happened at Everton, which is the decision to build a new stadium.
It is the catalyst, he believes, in taking the Toffees forward.
Asked if the club needed big changes, Big Sam replied: “It’s had major changes. It’s got major changes in the ownership, and in terms of where it’s going.
“It is making major changes because it’s going to build a brand new stadium and in building that brand new stadium it builds expectation.
“Expectation builds the one thing you must have when you get to a new stadium when it’s built, which is a winning team.”
Other teams have faced problems when moving to new grounds, with West Ham struggling badly after they moved away from their intimidating Upton Park home in 2016 to the London Stadium.
But Allardyce believes that as Everton get closer to their new ground on Bramley Moore Dock, which is planned to be ready sometime after 2022, it will give the club a big boost in attracting new players and creating a winning team.
“I think with West Ham if they had a winning team competing with the top six or seven, then certainly for West Ham their stadium wouldn’t matter,” he said.
“A new stadium at Everton is the right thing to do and the right way forward to achieve everybody’s desire, particularly the fans.
“With it you give the fans a better chance that this club can then compete in Europe and maybe one day even compete and get in the top four, and into the Champions League.
“I think if Everton go to a new stadium competing in the top six or seven or even greater, then it will give more of a chance of getting towards where the fans want to go.”