A biography for Sam Allardycehasn’t been written yet.
“Expectation builds the one thing you must have when you get to a new stadium when it's built, which is a winning team.”
“I coach defending an awful lot but I don't think too many teams in the Premier League or in the world of football actually coach defending anymore, certainly not the full-backs.”
“We've got the greatest Premier League, greatest domestic competition in the world but the downside of that is we've got fewer and fewer English players playing in that league.”
“I believe first of all it's always a disappointment to lose the players at an important moment of the season.”
“If you're talking about English football very few teams play 4-4-2 now: it's either 4-4-1-1, 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, they are the three major systems played throughout the Premier League.”
“It's extremely depressing that a country of this magnitude, and where it thinks it lies in itself, can allow so many foodbanks to be operating in this country.”
“You have to keep control mentally when you go a goal down.”
“Have transfer prices in England surprised me? No. Are the prices over-inflated? Yes. But there is no surprise now.”
“We live in a world that builds people's expectations so high, so when the downside comes there is a knee-jerk reaction.”
“The bonding of the team is exceptionally important and trying to create a good team spirit and to have some fun.”
“There is a lot of pressure at first when you first take over a club that's struggling but you want to go and do your best for yourself, your family and the club that employ you.”
“My dad would be down at the social club and my mum would be looking after us. Their time out together was limited to birthdays and, particularly being Scottish, to Hogmanay and Christmas.”
“There's always going to be a time when there's a difficult period and my responsibility is to manage the players through that. You have to make sure you bring stability back to the club and get where you want to be.”
“I have a great amount of enthusiasm, and I am a man who knows how to do this job inside out because of the experience I've gained over the years.”
“A quality player is a quality player.”
“Defending is an art, everybody has forgotten it.”
“You cannot just force 'the only way to play is this way' in this country.”
“It's always a good time to play against a team when they come back from Europe, whether it's the Europa League or Champions League.”
“Football today means players stay less now than ever before and you have to accept that. As a manager, a big part of your business is doing far too much business that you don't want to do really.”
“Now astronomical wages are making it very difficult to take somebody who might not even have a transfer fee attached to them, because of the net value that they want and the net value that they're worth.”