Leeds hire Allardyce as interim manager after firing Gracia

Sam Allardyce has built a mana‐ gerial career largely out of being a survival specialist in the Pre‐ mier League.

At 68 years old, he is back — somewhat surprisingly — in Eng‐ land's top division with one of his toughest assignments yet.

The former England coach was hired by Leeds on Wednesday until the end of the season as a replacement for Javi Gracia, who was fired with the team in fourth‐ to‐last place in the standings and only out of the relegation zone on goal difference with four games remaining.

Allardyce's last coaching role was at West Bromwich Albion for the second half of the 2020‐21 season, when he failed in his short‐term mission to keep the team in the Premier League.

That hasn't stopped Leeds from turning to one of English soccer's most charismatic managers, with Allardyce saying he was "shocked" to get the opportunity of being the club's fourth man‐ ager in 15 months.

"I never thought at this stage of the season there would be jobs offered," he said, "...so it took me about two seconds to say yes."

According to British newspaper The Times of London, Allardyce will earn more than 3 million pounds ($3.75 million) if he keeps Leeds in the Premier League. It is his ninth managerial job in the top division and the sixth time he has been hired dur‐ ing a season, both of which are records.

"Far too many people think I am old and antiquated, which is so far from the truth," a bullish Al‐ lardyce said. "I might be 68 and look old, but there's nobody ahead of me in football terms — not Pep (Guardiola), not (Jurgen) Klopp, not (Mikel) Arteta. It's all there with me. I shared it with them, they did what they do, I do what I do.

"In terms of knowledge, and depth of knowledge, I'm up there. I'm not saying I'm better, but I'm certainly as good as they are."

Allardyce's four‐game stint could hardly be tougher, with three of them against teams in the top six.

It starts with the ultimate test in English soccer, an away match at Manchester City on Saturday, be‐ fore a home game against third‐ place Newcastle. Then there's a trip to West Ham, which is also fighting to avoid relegation, and a season‐ending home match against Europe‐chasing Totten‐ ham. West Ham and Newcastle are two of Allardyce's many for‐ mer clubs.

It is a desperate late‐season move from Leeds, which — in the space of about a year — has gone from having something of a cultural phenomenon in Argen‐ tine coach Marcelo Bielsa at the helm to appointing Allardyce, an old‐school English manager who has taken charge of 537 Premier League games.

The change in styles between the two coaches couldn't be more stark, highlighting the lack of direction in Leeds' leadership in recent years.

Nowhere is Allardyce's pre‐ ferred direct and pragmatic style better exemplified than the name of his weekly podcast, which is called "No Tippy Tappy Football."

It is proving to be chaotic week at Elland Road, with director of football Victor Orta losing his job on Tuesday.

And it is a wild season in gen‐ eral in the Premier League, with a record 14 managers having been fired this season as the pressure on clubs to either qual‐ ify for Europe or stay in the divi‐ sion takes its toll.

There are now six teams with interim managers — Southamp‐ ton, Leicester, Crystal Palace, Tottenham, Chelsea and Leeds.

The arrival of Allardyce contin‐ ues something of a trend of clubs appointing experienced man‐ agers to realize end‐of‐season objectives.