Speaking on Kammy and Ben’s Proper Football Podcast, Sam Allardyce has been discussing his time at Newcastle United and his untimely departure.
Big Sam barely got his feet under the desk at Newcastle by the time he was sacked, and he wasn’t let go due to poor performances on the pitch.
Indeed, Allardyce’s sacking was a byproduct of the Mike Ashley takeover in 2008, and it seems as though this sacking is a point of frustration for the former England manager.
Allardyce says that the Newcastle job was supposed to be a long-term project that would escalate his career, but sadly, it didn’t quite work out that way for Allardyce.
What’s been said?
Big Sam spoke about his time at Newcastle.
“In terms of longevity, it was about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Particularly with Newcastle. People forget the Bolton record because it was a considerable amount of time ago. Newcastle was supposed to be the big one, it was going to escalate my career beyond what we achieved at Bolton. Unfortunately, a takeover there meant that I lost my job and I couldn’t build Newcastle into what Freddy Shepherd wanted them to be, and Mike bought the club and moved me on. It was the wrong place at the wrong time,” Allardyce said.
What could have been
It’s interesting to ponder what would have become of Newcastle and Allardyce if he’d been allowed to continue his job at St James’ Park.
The relegation in 2009 likely would never have happened, while it would have been very intriguing to see what sort of level Big Sam would’ve gotten out of a young, hungry Andy Carroll.
The Mike Ashley era was awful for a number of reasons, but his decision to get rid of Allardyce is one aspect of his ownership that is barely spoken about.
Allardyce, if he’d stayed at Newcastle, may have been looked at in a very different light by the wider footballing world.
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