Sam Allardyce was the relegation firefighter Everton turned to when there weren’t any real flames to put out. But almost five years after they sacked him, he could now play a pivotal role in whether the Blues finally drop out of English football’s top flight.
Leeds United’s decision to get rid of Javi Gracia – who only came in as Jesse Marsch’s successor in February – and replace him with Allardyce appears to be a desperate act but such gambles can still pay off. Given that former Watford manager Gracia won three of his 11 Premier League matches – the same number of victories Sean Dyche has secured in 14 games so far with Everton – it’s also a stark warning to the Blues boss, whose side are a point below them and in the relegation zone, over just what’s at stake.
Double disposal of bosses in the same season is not an alien concept with Tottenham Hotspur having already axed their interim head coach Cristian Stellini after just four matches in charge. There were even reports last year than Farhad Moshiri was considering getting rid of Frank Lampard a mere couple of months into his Everton tenure before a 1-0 win over Manchester United on April 9 eased the pressure.
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Dyche himself is well aware of the lack of sentiment for those in his profession given his own dismissal from Burnley on Good Friday last year after almost a decade in charge at Turf Moor. Unlike the Spaniard across the Pennines, whose short-lived reign will go down in the Elland Road annals for all the wrong reasons like Brian Clough’s 44-day tenure in 1974 or Darko Milanic’s rather more forgotten 32 days at the helm some 40 years later, the man from Kettering was a folk hero in the East Lancashire town after steering the Clarets to seventh spot in 2018, their highest league finish since 1974, which brought the club European football for the first time since 1967.
Such exploits ensured a local pub was renamed ‘The Royal Dyche’ in his honour, depicting the ginger-bearded gaffer mocked up as Tudor monarch King Henry VIII but that still didn’t stop him being cast aside last season to be replaced by Scouser Mike Jackson whose only previous experience had been 33 matches in charge of Shrewsbury Town and Tranmere Rovers in the lower divisions. However, the bold move almost paid off with Burnley enjoying a new manager ‘bounce’ picking up 10 points from their first four games before being winless from their next four.
We’re so late in the season now though that such a haul from Leeds’ remaining quartet of fixtures – indeed maybe half as many points – would be enough to keep them up though. If a relative unknown such as Jackson could have such a short-term impact, the logic from those at the top in West Yorkshire must be that a proven old campaign such as Allardyce is surely worth a punt, even if he’s now lost his survival ‘guarantee’ having failed to save West Bromwich Albion in 2021.
Even at 68, he’s still something of a spring chicken compared to managerial Methuselah Roy Hodgson who came out of retirement in his 76th year to halt Crystal Palace’s slide with wins in his first three matches back in charge of the Eagles. But while Dyche will always be fondly remembered at Burnley, there’s not so much as a commemorative gravy boat in Big Sam’s honour at Goodison Park following what felt like a short but not-so-sweet marriage of convenience, although he was canny enough to insist on an 18-month deal with ensured he nevertheless benefitted from the financial windfall that followed the ‘quickie divorce.’
Bizarrely, after being thwarted in his attempts to prise Marco Silva from Watford following the sacking of Ronald Koeman – eventually bringing him to Goodison Park the following year after Everton previously handed over £4million in compensation after their approach – Moshiri appeared to panic in the autumn of 2017 and brought in Allardyce, and all this while Dyche, who was also linked to the post, was enjoying his best-ever campaign at Burnley.
Although the Blues had been in the drop zone when dismissing the Dutchman who had been the new regime’s first appointment in the summer of 2016, a 4-0 thrashing of David Moyes’ West Ham United in caretaker boss David Unsworth’s final game in charge followed by a 2-0 home win over Huddersfield Town saw Allardyce’s side in the top half of the table after his first match in charge.
They’d go on to finish the season in eighth place but with the manager refusing to release the shackles and adopt a more expansive style of play – Everton were bottom of the Premier League for shots; shots on target and chances created under Allardyce’s tenure – he was relieved of his duties just three days after their final fixture. Such is the eclectic nature of Moshiri’s managerial searches, Leeds fans felt pangs of potential jealousy when their terrace idol Marcelo Bielsa, who could be described as being the antithesis of Allardyce in terms of his footballing philosophy, was being considered for the Blues vacancy in January before Dyche got the nod.
There’s no such love lost between many Evertonians and Allardyce which might prompt them to greet his latest Premier League return at Leeds with a shrug akin to that much-used Alan Partridge GIF given their ambivalence to his brief time on Merseyside. However, if he were to keep his new team up at the expense of his former employers then it might privately give him a great deal of satisfaction for being supposedly hard done by with the Blues and as well as providing him with the last laugh, would give a whole new meaning to Big Sam ‘playing the long game.’
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