BIG SAM’S UP FOUR IT
Allardyce signs on ahead of crunch run of games
SAM ALLARDYCE has accepted one of the toughest challenges of his career after taking on the Leeds manager’s job.
And if he can pull off another great escape on behalf of the Yorkshire club, it might just be his greatest achievement of all.
‘Fireman Sam,’ as he’s become known, has just four games to stop the Elland Road outfit’s season from going down in flames.
First up is the small matter of a trip to the Etihad to face the defending champions and Treble chasers Manchester City on Saturday.
This is followed by the visit of goal-crazy Newcastle, who have won eight of their last nine games and sit third.
Leeds then travel to West Ham, where fans never took to Allardyce following his mixed spell there as boss.
And they will finish their woeful season with a home clash with Tottenham, who still need to secure a place in Europe and have one of the most lethal strikers in world football in the shape of England captain Harry Kane.
Just to pile even more pressure on Allardyce, he will be walking into a fractured dressing room which has tasted victory just once in the last seven attempts. Best of luck, mate.
But if one man can mastermind Leeds’ survival it has to be Big Sam.
The former England, Newcastle and Everton manager has been the master of keeping teams in the Premier League in the past.
Back in 2009 he took charge of a Blackburn side sitting second from bottom.
But he somehow managed to secure seven wins, 28 points and lead them to an impressive 15th.
Allardyce did a similar job at Sunderland in 2015-16 to keep them in the top flight.
And he was at it again the following season with Crystal Palace, winning eight of 21 games to take them from 17th to safety in 14th.
Allardyce, who also kept Bolton up year after year against the odds in the Noughties, retired following his spell at Palace.
But he couldn’t resist the drug of football when the Toffees came calling in 2017 as their season threatened to implode. They were 13th when Allardyce breezed into Goodison and engineered an unbeaten six-game run to kick off his era.
The Toffees finished that campaign a respectable eighth.
But one thing Allardyce cannot escape is the fact there will be immense pressure on him to succeed at Leeds – because the stakes have never been higher.
The club’s fans are renowned for turning on their own players at home when things don’t go to plan.
Those same supporters who still miss the fantasy football played under Marcelo Bielsa, are now bracing themselves for the more direct style of play Allardyce became famous for.
And throw into the mix the fact that should Leeds return to the Championship, the valuation of the club to prospective new outright owners the San Francisco 49ers would drop more than £100m and cost chairman Andrea Radrizzani (inset) a potential fortune.
Allardyce is no stranger to the role of white knight. But rarely has he ridden into a storm as bad as the one raging around Elland Road right now.