Former Liverpool defender and Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher has blasted new Leeds United boss Sam Allardyce's claim that no Premier League manager knows more about football than him. Allardyce took over at Elland Road this week on a mission to steer Leeds away from relegation danger in the final four games of the season, but started out with a 2-1 defeat at defending champions Manchester City yesterday.
However it was Allardyce's self-confident comments in his introductory press confidence on Wednesday morning that drew Carragher's ire, after the former Bolton Wanderers, Newcastle United, Everton, and West Bromwich Albion boss declared himself the equal of Premier League and Champions League winners Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp. Allardyce has previously said there is an anti-British sentiment towards coaches in the Premier League, but Carragher says Eddie Howe's achievements with Newcastle this season have shown that is not the case.
"Allardyce has form for this, of course, often sounding like he deserves greater respect for his coaching achievements," Carragher wrote for the Telegraph. "'I won't ever be going to a top-four club because I'm not called 'Allardici', just Allardyce,' he famously said while West Ham manager.
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"Allardyce managed huge clubs at Newcastle United and Everton. The supporters at St James' Park and Goodison Park did not like or want his style.
"That had nothing to do with an anti-British sentiment. You only have to see how well-received Eddie Howe has been in the North-East playing a modern, progressive style to recognise that.
"In fact, the argument about British coaches being denied top four chances has dated poorly. The problem for Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool, David Moyes at Manchester United, and Graham Potter and Frank Lampard at Chelsea is they proved to be less effective as their overseas predecessors or successors."
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