The means for Sam
ON CAPTAINCY…
The best captain I had was Jay-Jay Okocha [right] at Bolton. In a multinational side, he could speak four languages and communicate well with players who couldn’t speak quite as good English. He sorted the odd scuffle in the dressing room, talked about how we had to win. He’d take the manager’s instructions and apply them in the right way. Then there was his outstanding ability on the field, showing he wasn’t a mercenary and leading by example. Jay-Jay became an iconic figure at Bolton.
ON HIS AMBITIONS…
All the names here inspire me. I am in the Sir Bobby Charlton Suite and you can’t but think of players like Sir Bobby [below].
Do you think there might be a Sam Allardyce Suite here one day? I hope so. I suppose it depends on how well I do over the next two years.
I find the job inspiring, there’s no doubt about that.
I find the fact that I could be sat in Russia trying to win the World Cup for the first time since 1966 such a great challenge for me. The final challenge of a long career.
Having conquered – if you like – the Premier League for so long with so many different clubs, this challenge is a much wider scope and much more challenging, but for me much more exciting.
ON TIME OFF FOR PLAYERS…
Wednesday after training, they’ll have some free time. They can do what they want, have a game of golf, if not too far, go home, have some down time. Alton Towers? No! It’s very important to have some down time.
They will have a big hit on Wednesday from a football and fitness point of view, then time to recover and come back in. We pick a team, prepare the team for Slovakia – a bit like what they do at their club.
We have set the layout here differently. We’ve walked around saying: ‘What can we do to make more of an impact on the players?’
It’s branding around the place, about the journey we are on until 2018 to remind them why we are here, who we are playing, starting with Slovakia.
ON THE FUTURE CHANCES FOR BARKLEY AND WILSHERE…
I wouldn’t say I don’t fancy them. Ross is a difficult one because he has been playing quite well since the start of the season, but the change of position for Wayne makes it difficult for Ross. He is playing behind the frontman at Manchester United. Dele Alli has started well too, so that makes it a difficult choice. As for Jack [inset], he just hasn’t had enough game time. Hopefully he will get that in the future at Arsenal. If Jack Wilshere was playing every week for Arsenal, he would be in the squad, but unfortunately he isn’t. It is game time for him and it has been few and far between because he has had too many injuries unfortunately.
ON THE DEFENCE AND JONES…
There are not a lot of options. The area of central defenders is a little bit more limited for me. Phil Jones [right] had a long list of injuries, which has been a particular problem to his development. It is a great shame for him and a great shame for me, having watched him and nursed him through in the younger years and early years. He’ll have to try to break and fight his way in, as will Chris Smalling at Manchester United. And that will determine your outlook when you come to pick the next squad.