HERE’S WHAT THE ENGLAND SCOUT THOUGHT OF BIG SAM IN 1977
ENGLAND manager Sam Allardyce never played for the national team but he may have come closer than he ever imagined. A dossier seen by Sportsmail reveals that Don Revie’s England scouts watched Allardyce at Bolton Wanderers in 1977. They had significant praise for the defender, then 22, but warned he had a tendency to ‘panic out wide’ and ‘dive into tackles’. Les Cocker was Revie’s assistant manager and heralded Allardyce and fellow Bolton defender Paul Jones as ‘one of the best central defensive pairings in the Football League’. There was praise for the duo’s ballplaying ability and dominance in the air. Cocker (below) wrote in the report: ‘These two complement each other so well now that they must rank as one of the best central defensive pairings in the Football League. They control play from the back and are not afraid to knock it about. Either of them use this as a springboard to attack, and will push forward confidently. Seldom are they troubled in the air.’ The report was compiled after Bolton’s 2-0 victory at Fulham on January 3 but also refers to the League Cup quarter-final tie against Derby a month earlier. Cocker, though, did have his reservations about Allardyce and Jones. While he admitted the pair were ‘let down’ by their full backs, he said they struggled when covering for the wide defenders. He wrote: ‘This is where these two show their weakness, for they panic out wide, and dive into tackles, either missing or giving away dangerous free-kicks. ‘With two good full backs, and a good goalkeeper, not much would be conceded in the goals against, and the value of these two good big players in attacking situations is boundless.’