Sam Allardyce looks to be in pole position to become the next England manager after his club Sunderland revealed yesterday they granted at his request permission to speak to the Football Association.
The 61-year-old Englishman, who was interviewed for the England job 10 years ago but lost out to Steve McClaren, spoke with the three-man FA panel on Tuesday about succeeding Roy Hodgson, who resigned after England were beaten by Iceland in the Euro 2016 last-16 clash.
Sunderland, who Allardyce saved from relegation last term, made clear they wished the situation to be resolved as quickly as possible so they can prepare for another tough campaign in the Premier League.
“The Football Association contacted Sunderland AFC to seek permission to speak with our manager as part of what was supposed to be a confidential discussion process with potential candidates for the position of England manager,” read a statement from Sunderland.
“At Sam Allardyce’s request, we agreed to this. Sam is very much key to our plans. After what was an extremely challenging season, we are keen to see a period of stability, both on and off the field, and we want him to remain as manager of our football club.
“The ongoing speculation over Sam’s position is extremely damaging to Sunderland AFC, particularly at this crucial time of the season and we urge the FA to respect the disruption that this process is causing and bring about a swift resolution to the matter.”
Allardyce, who apart from an Irish championship with Limerick City in 1992 has never won a major domestic trophy, is one of several names who have been linked with one of the trickiest jobs in the sport.
A fellow former no-nonsense central defender Steve Bruce, now manager of Hull, Arsenal’s veteran handler Arsene Wenger, the United States’ German coach Jurgen Klinsmann and young Englishman Eddie Howe, who has impressed at Bournemouth, have all figured in talk about the job.
Allardyce, though, is the odds on favourite with English bookmaker William Hill for, despite not winning anything significant in his managerial career with among others Bolton, Newcastle, Blackburn and West Ham, he generally engenders respect and is seen as a great motivator of players.
His remarks of 10 years ago which fell on stoney ground that England was heading into an ‘abyss’ may have been ignored by the FA then, but resonate now after successive failures at major championships.
Since Swede Sven-Goran Eriksson guided England to the 2006 World Cup quarter-finals, losing to Portugal on penalties, they have either failed to qualify for a championships — Euro 2008 which cost McClaren his job — or failed to get past the first knockout stage in the subsequent two Euros and two World Cups under the autocratic Fabio Capello and then Hodgson.
Allardyce’s remark after he lost out to McClaren sounds even more propitious: “The problem isn’t now, the problem is in the future.”
With Sunderland having just appointed a new chief executive in Martin Bain – who arrived from Maccabi Tel Aviv on 1 July – and still to make a signing this summer they could not be facing the prospect of seeking their seventh manager in five years at a worse time.
While any negotiations over potential compensation for Allardyce are likely to be straightforward, identifying a successor could prove trickier. David Moyes would be among those likely to feature on any shortlist.
Meanwhile Hull City boss Steve Bruce has said he is flattered to be linked with the vacant England manager’s job.
“It’s highly flattering and I’m honoured to be linked with it,” Bruce, who led Hull back into the Premier League after one season in the Championship (second-tier), told the local media. “Whether or not it goes any further than that... It’s the pinnacle isn’t it? To manage your country, there’s no bigger job.
“It’s all speculation. There’s a lot of people who have written nice things and I’m grateful for that.”
Bruce said he had not been contacted by the English Football Association and was focused on building a Hull squad capable of competing in the Premier League in the coming season.
“With the players that we let go at the end of last season, and the two injuries we’ve subsequently picked up, we might now be looking at five or six new faces,” he added.
“We’d like to add to the squad quickly if we could, but when you have European Championships going on there hasn’t been any really significant movement (in the transfer market) just yet. A lot of clubs are being patient and we have to do the same.