Sam Allardyce is our new manager. He therefore starts with Salut! Sunderland‘s complete support. Welcome back, Sam, the runaway favourite among the touted names
when we ran our little poll asking who should be Dick Advocaat’s successor.
Fond memories of the Roker Roar as a player. Now let's make some positive memories at the Stadium of Light. What a fantastic place to be ??
— Sam Allardyce (@OfficialBigSam) October 9, 2015
This is a hasty posting to record the news and others are invited to add flesh to the bones.
And this is how safc.com puts it:
The 60-year-old has agreed to a two-year deal at the Stadium of Light and takes charge of the Black Cats with immediate effect.
Speaking about the appointment, chairman Ellis Short said: “I am very pleased to welcome Sam to our football club.
“Sunderland is a club he knows well and he was the obvious best choice for the job. He has vast experience of managing in the Premier League and an understanding first-hand of the north east and the passion of our fans, which will stand him in great stead.
“I would like to assure our fans that once Dick made us aware of his intention to leave, Lee Congerton oversaw an organised and structured recruitment process, that bore very little resemblance to what has been described in the media.
“For example, this was a very popular job, proactively sought after by a large number of managers – contrary to much of what has been portrayed. The process was made easier by the fact that Sam was such an obvious choice.
“The other misconception is that Sam had to be persuaded to join us; nothing could be further from the truth. From the very beginning, he understood the importance of this job and showed great enthusiasm for the role and a desire to be part of moving this club forward.”
Over to you.
There are all kinds of reasons why he didn’t work out at West Ham. As far as I’m concerned, he comes to the SoL with a clean slate and I’m very glad to see him there.
He was bloody awful at West Ham – had no respect for the players (it was always their fault, never his) and no respect for the fans either – if you get Kevin Nolan as well then it’s a double whammy for sure.
It will bring enthusiasm and ambition back to the Club. We have had a terrible press this season which has made the players jittery and timid. Sam is a man that wants his teams to relect his no nonsense approach, he doea not expected them to hid their talents, remember J J Okachia Nicholas Anelka Djorkioff, he revitalised Downing. This is a man that knows what it takes to win in the EPL. He does not try to win popularity but only matches, we need to start winning and stop conceeding goals and I personally can’t think of a less risk appointment Sam is the Man Forward and Upward
My choice as was O’Neill , the majority of the fans choice as was O’Neill , the logical choice as was O’Neill and seemingly a perfect fit , as was O’Neill . I think the present squad is stronger in some areas and weaker in others than the one MON inherited ,but the man in charge has a good number of games to turn it around . Can he do it where O’Neill was judged to have failed ? I would hope so and surely if he can’t keep us up we have to accept our medicine this time and rebuild under this man . We will have tried every variation of manager available by then with some top names and we must come to the conclusion that the squad is unmanageable in its current form and major restructuring out of the pressure cooker of the premier must take place . All of this is conjecture though , I’m looking on the positive side and hopefully Allardyce can rally us so we’re in touch with the rest of the bottom feeders at least untill January where reinforcements can be brought in . Free transfer Nolan coming off the bench to score the winner against the mags in a few weeks , chicken dance et all ? In the bizzare world of SAFC , don’t rule it out !
An excellent appointment, and exactly what the club needs. Can’t understand all this garbage about ‘boring’ football. Have we been watching Brazil for decades or something? Allardyce teams are usually effective. They get the ball in the bloody box. That’s what I want to see!
Spot on. The criticism of Sam’s teams style of play is largely media driven, and is grossly unfair. The tactic’s he tends to emphasise [ getting the ball forward quickly, winning the second ball ] are much those employed by Peter Reid at SAFC during his best period.
The football on display during PDC and Poyet’s time was rubbish to watch – and unsuccessful.
Media driven – try asking a West Ham fan
Sunderland will play long ball, tedious, boring, unimaginative football under Big Sam. See, it’s getting better already!!!
Hope I’m wrong, but just feel this is a big mistake. £50k a week and a 60 year old is the best we can get. This may be a job too far, and his last year with WHU saw two wins in the last 18 games ( us and Burnley) . This after spending a lot of money. Again, hope I’m wrong
Brilliant! I now think we have a decent chance of avoiding yet another great escape saga.
Well done to DA for giving his successor enough time.