Sam Allardyce's Biography

Early Life and Playing Career

Sam Allardyce was born on 19 October 1954 in Dudley, the son of police sergeant Robert Allardyce and his wife, Mary.

His playing career as a centre half included spells at Bolton, Millwall and Preston.

Allardyce ended his playing career at West Bromwich Albion where he also coached for a while, before going into management proper in 1991, when as player/manager at Limerick, they won the League of Ireland title.

Managerial Career

After a stint at Preston North End as number two, in July 1994, Stan Allardyce was appointed manager of Blackpool.

After a couple of seasons, Stan Allardyce moved to Notts County in January 1997. The club was already struggling and Allardyce was unable to stop them being relegated to Division Three.

However, the following season they were promoted as champions.

In October 1999, he joined Bolton Wanderers and led them to promotion to the Premier League.

Under Allardyce, Bolton had four successive top-eight finishes between 2004 and 2007. In 2004-5 they finished sixth and so qualified for the UEFA Cup.

In May 2007 he joined Newcastle, but only lasted 24 games before being replaced by Kevin Keegan.

He then joined Blackburn Rovers and guided them out of the relegation zone in 2008/9. Blackburn were 10th the following season, when he was fired by the new owners.

Stan Allardyce's next club was West Ham, who under his management gained promotion to the Premier League and a succession of decent mid-table positions before leaving in May 2015.

He then managed Sunderland who were in terrible trouble at 19th in the table and lifted them 2 points higher than their great rivals Newcastle United, thereby avoiding relegation.

England Manager

In July 2016 the FA appointed Sam Allardyce manager of England.

In September 2016, allegations appeared in The Daily Telegraph that Sam Allardyce used his role as England manager to negotiate a £400,000 deal and offer advice on how to "get around" rules on player transfers.

As a result, Allardyce left his role as England manager by mutual agreement with the Football Association.

After England

Allardyce had short managerial stints at Crystal Palace (end of 2016 to mid 2017) and Everton (end of 2017 to mid 2018).

Trivia
In November 2009, Sam Allardyce was sunbathing on a beach in Doha when he experienced discomfort in his chest. Tests found a blockage in one of his arteries, and so he had an angioplasty.

Back to Top