Sam: Life as a boss is bonkers
® SAM ALLARDYCE welcomed Craig Shakespeare to the management madhouse by admitting his own life has been “bonkers” over the last 12 months.
Crystal Palace boss Allardyce had Shakespeare on his backroom staff during his one-game spell in charge of England.
This afternoon they go head to head as opposing managers when Leicester visit Selhurst Park.
Neither could have imagined that last September when they sat on the bench as England scraped a 1-0 win against Slovakia.
“I spoke to him when he took over at Leicester,” said Allardyce.
“I wished him all the very best on jumping into the madhouse and said good luck coping with it. And he very clearly has.
“Yes it’s mad, mad, mad. You have to be mad to do this. The pressure is constant and no one day is the same – but I don’t like to eat the same thing for breakfast every day so it suits me.
Survival
“My life has been bonkers the last year, no doubt about that.
“When you look at the end of 2016, from January 2016 to Sunderland, to trying to plot a way to make Sunderland come better to the Euros coming around.
“And then the England job which I never expected would come my way again. And then losing that, then Steve (Parish, Palace chairman) asking me to come and do a job at Crystal Palace – to where I am now.
“Just those 18 months will be one hell of a book, never mind my autobiography.”
Shakespeare halted Leicester’s slide after succeeding Claudio Ranieri, while Allardyce has overseen five wins in six games to fire Palace’s survival bid.
The Palace boss added: “Look at Leicester. They achieved the great escape in the first season and then after that won the Premier League – so that’s why the game’s mad, isn’t it?
“Managing the madness is what this job is all about. Results like the one the other night against Arsenal and beating Chelsea are why you do it.”