By Football Editor Paul Hetherington

THE ALLARDYCE I KNOW

SAM ALLARDYCE has never been short of a quip – or confidence. He breezed into Sunderland 36 years ago as a player, signing from Bolton Wanderers for £150,000. That was my first meeting with Big Sam and he said: “£150,000? I’m a snip at that!” Now, he is the new £3million-a-year manager of England – and he’ll be a snip at that, too, if he puts right what is wrong with the national team. Allardyce believes there is a mentality problem in the dressing room, which sees England fail to deal with pressure and expectations in major tournaments. Rest assured that the positive, deep-thinking former Blackburn boss will address that problem. He has just landed the job he has always wanted – the job he thought was always going to be the one that got away. I know from a conversation I had with him recently that the new England boss accepted he was never going to be manager of the Manchester clubs, Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea. That is why he told me the one job he would leave Sunderland for was the England manager’s role – IF he ever got the chance. That has happened, he has taken it and it is just a shame from his point of view that his short, successful and happy time at Sunderland ended on a bitter note. The compensation row between angry Sunderland owner Ellis Short and the FA over Allardyce’s release created that. But Big Sam and Short were much happier yesterday. Allardyce has got his dream job – and Short revealed he has got his dream replacement and the manager he has always wanted in David Moyes.