'Big Sam' Allardyce hits out at critics of his time at West Ham on Hong Kong visit
Long-ball jibes unfair says Londoners' former manager
Down to earth, pragmatic and with a propensity to call a spade a spade, Sam Allardyce is something of a dying breed among English football coaches.
The former manager of Bolton Wanderers, Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers and, most recently, West Ham United, "Big Sam" has been one of the most outspoken and divisive characters in the English Premier League for the past 15 years, as lauded for his no-nonsense opinions and winning mentality as he is criticised for his perceived reliance on long-ball tactics.
In Hong Kong this week to speak at a fundraiser for the Indochina Starfish Foundation, a charity that helps disadvantaged children in Cambodia through football-based programmes, Allardyce is as forthright as ever, and remains bullish about his time with West Ham despite a departure marked by a lack of support from the club's owners and fan disgruntlement.
I don't get worried about the fans like everybody else does, I worry about my players and what we're like as a squad
"My time was fantastic with West Ham," says Allardyce. "You take a football club that's on its knees, that's riddled with depression and the financial fallout of getting relegated, and resurrect it ... I felt the criticism was unfair towards what I'd achieved."
Despite getting West Ham back into the Premier League in his first season in charge, beating Blackpool 2-1 in the 2012 Championship play-off final at Wembley, and following that up with midtable finishes in the next three seasons, Allardyce was accused by the club's fans of playing unattractive, long-ball football, a criticism that has dogged him throughout his career.
For Allardyce, however, it was water off a duck's back.
You take a football club that's on its knees, that's riddled with depression and the financial fallout of getting relegated, and resurrect it
"I don't get worried about the fans like everybody else does, I worry about my players and what we're like as a squad, and the relationship and banter in the dressing room," he says.
"Bolton, Blackburn, Newcastle and West Ham were all in a better position when I left than when I took over, and that's all you can ask as a manager."
The notion he sets his teams out to play long-ball football comes more from other managers clutching at straws than reality, he adds.
"It's like everything in football. You can be labelled with one thing that's picked up by the media, and then it doesn't matter how hard you try, you can never get rid of it, so I don't bother about it anymore," he says.
"When I was playing the so-called long ball [at Bolton] it was with Jay-Jay Okocha, Youri Djorkaeff, Nicolas Anelka, Gary Speed, Ivan Campo, Fernando Hierro … Other managers needed an excuse to get beat by Bolton, because Bolton wasn't supposed to beat them."
For now though, Allardyce is happy to take a break from football management. He had two offers from clubs in England straight after he left West Ham, he reveals, but said they came too soon to be seriously considered.
Having reportedly told West Ham co-chairman David Sullivan that being a football manager is "the worst job in the world" towards the end of his tenure, he's now exploring other career options by lending his natural talent for punditry to sports channels including Sky, BT, beIN, Premier League TV and Setanta.
Football's loss is television's gain it seems - but one gets the distinct feeling that the Premier League has not seen the last of Sam Allardyce.
