It’s a madhouse warns Sam
SAM ALLARDYCE says the last 12 months of his life have been “bonkers”.
The Crystal Palace manager welcomes Leicester to Selhurst Park this afternoon in what will be a reunion with Foxes boss Craig Shakespeare, who was part of his coaching team with England.
“When he got the job after Claudio Ranieri left I rang him and welcomed him to the mad house of management,” said Allardyce. “Because that’s what it is, it’s mad, mad, mad, and you have to be mad to do it. My life has been bonkers for the last year or so.
“I’ve gone from Sunderland and plotting to make them better, to the England job which I never thought would come my way again, to chairman Steve Parrish asking me to come and do a job at Palace, to where we are now. Never mind my autobiography, the last 18 months would have made a hell of a book.”
Allardyce had brought in Shakespeare to be among his back-room team for England, but lasted only one game before being sacked by the FA following a newspaper sting. “We will have a drink but as for talking about what might have been, that’s long gone,” said Allardyce. “My ship has sailed...it’s somewhere in the Atlantic now, or the Pacific.”
Allardyce is moving Palace away from relegation danger, while Shakespeare replaced Ranieri and instantly halted Leicester’s slide into trouble.
“My wife thinks I’m mad, absolutely, that I can’t leave it alone,” said Allardyce. “But she has been the backbone of my career when I’ve put myself through all the trials and tribulations.
“Then you get results like we did against Chelsea and Arsenal and you realise why you do it.” Shakespeare says Allardyce had no need to apologise over the dramatic end to their England careers after one game in charge against Slovakia.
He said: “Sam thanked me for my time and I didn’t really see the need for him to say sorry. He was really impressive in the short time I had with him. If ever I need some advice, he definitely would be one of the people I’d turn to.”
Shakespeare will not gamble on captain Wes Morgan’s fitness. He has ruled Morgan out of the Palace game and will not rush him back to face Atletico Madrid in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday despite fellow defender Robert Huth being suspended.