Goodi-Sam spark!
® SAM ALLARDYCE is determined to ensure Everton’s thumping win over West Ham is no flash in the pan.
Big Sam plans to bring the feelgood factor back to Goodison Park after being confirmed as the new Toffees boss yesterday.
He said: “Let’s try to get a healthy spirit around the club.
“Whatever’s happened before we’ve just got to all rally around together. Our will to do it all together would be my way forward.”
Allardyce, who has signed an 18-month deal worth £9m, watched Wednesday’s 4-0 win over the Hammers from the directors’ box.
And he is convinced that if he can build on the positivity created by that victory then his stars can have no excuses if they fail to perform.
“We have to give the players every possibility to play to their best,” said Allardyce, who will take charge of his first game when Everton entertain Huddersfield tomorrow.
“We have to really give them no excuses for not playing to their best and get them
right back up to the top level we believe they’re capable of.
“We want to try to relax them and let them express themselves in the right way.
“That would be the environment on a day to day basis to lift the mood and get the players a little bit mentally more stable, and a little stronger mentally to go out and deliver their best performance.
“If we get their minds right we will get the technical side right and we will get the physical side right.”
Allardyce replaces Ronald Koeman, who was sacked more than a month ago following a 5-2 defeat by Arsenal that left them in the relegation zone.
Big Sam spoke with some of the key members of the squad on Wednesday afternoon before they fired four past the Hammers, a result that included a stunning hat-trick from Wayne Rooney.
Allardyce planned to retire after quitting Crystal Palace in the summer and they are now due £2m in compensation due to the severance package he agreed with the Eagles.
But Allardyce claimed he could not resist the lure of managing Everton, adding: “Obviously, the club has gone through a difficult spell. Hopefully I can put that behind us as quickly as possible and start looking upwards again.
“Because, ultimately, it’s the ambition of the club, the ambition of the owner and the board, allied to the fact that it’s Everton and all the fantastic history, which have proved to be key for me.”
Allardyce’s backroom team will consist of former Leicester boss Craig Shakespeare, ex-Liverpool player and coach Sammy Lee, and Everton favourite Duncan Ferguson.
Caretaker boss David Unsworth returns to his former role as Under-23s manager.