Sam Allardyce has refused to rule out a managerial return to the Premier League as he stated his is ‘waiting’ for the call to return to the dugout
Sam Allardyce has refused to dismiss the possibility of taking over at Wolves and is confident he could guide them to Premier League survival.
Wolves sacked Vitor Pereira on Sunday, with the club yet to secure a victory this campaign and sitting eight points from safety. Allardyce hasn’t taken charge of a side since his ill-fated 30-day spell at Leeds United, which stands as the shortest tenure for any Premier League manager. Even Ange Postecoglou’s time at Nottingham Forest stretched nine days longer.
That Leeds appointment came during the closing stages of the 2022/23 season, spanning just four fixtures. They suffered defeat in three and managed one draw, ultimately resulting in relegation.
His previous spell at West Bromwich Albion lasted six-and-a-half months throughout the 2020/21 season, though they too suffered relegation after claiming victory in just four of 26 matches.
Regardless, Allardyce is open to the prospect of managing their Black Country neighbours. Speaking to talkSPORT, Allardyce said: “I suppose the amount of times I’ve said I might retire. I can never say never, with the amount of times I’ve actually bounced back.
“So, I think that possibly Wolves was one of my childhood favourite clubs that I started watching, I suppose, but you know, who knows? I think I’ve heard they’re looking for a younger coach anyway, so not too sure my time’ll ever come round again. But I sit and wait; you never know.
“I’m not actively searching. If it happens, it happens; if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. If you’re in sunny Dubai like me, you often think, ‘why would you bother? The love (for the game) is there, never lose the love.
“You have to talk about the pressure. I mean, you can see a number of managers have lost their jobs again, and I think that it’s a big pressure job.
“I don’t know why – well, probably do know why – but the pressure gets ever greater and greater, because of the size of the money and size of the money you have to pay for the players, the size of the contracts.
“The experience and absolute skill that you need to deal with the players today. I feel that’s a lot more a part of the job than it ever has been before.
“I think that you upset a player now, and you’re held against the consequences of upsetting that player, rather than perhaps sometimes the club backing you and saying, you know, ‘you’ve got a contract here, get on with, earn your money and do your job. I think sometimes the player almost becomes bigger than the manager and the club sometimes.”
When questioned if he could keep Wolves up, Allardyce replied: “Yeah, if they’re good enough, I have to weigh it up. Obviously, Leeds was just a journey for me – four games, it would have been an absolute miracle if I pulled them out.
“West Brom was probably the most disappointing because I didn’t realise the effect of Covid would have on trying to get the team to play better. As hard as we tried, we didn’t quite manage, all the efforts that we put in, to get West Brom out of trouble. That was bitterly disappointing for me, because I wanted to try and keep the record of never being relegated from the Premier League, but that obviously didn’t happen in the end.
“Experience in these situations I think is inevitable, but more importantly it’s the reaction of the players to you, and are the players capable or good enough?”.
“I think that most of the time, January is a very significant window for teams at the bottom of the league. Whoever they choose in January will be a key element, not just as the new manager before that, but the key element for the team playing better and getting them out of trouble.”
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