So, 2016, you stay true to form.

A year that began with the untimely passing of a succession of true legends in music and cinema. A year in which Donald Trump inexplicably moved from being a racist, blathering, comical buffoon, to a racist, blathering, insidious United States presidential candidate.

A year in which the rise of xenophobia and bigotry that led to chaos across the European continent and continued carnage and killings across the Middle East. The United Kingdom closed itself off from their neighbours, while the continent faces a string of terrorist attacks.

In football, Leicester City confounded the world by winning the Premier League, having been tipped as sure-shot relegation candidates, while a massively unfancied Portugal laid waste to French delusions of grandeur and won the European Championship.

When seen in this perspective, the appointment of Samuel ‘Big Sam’ Allardyce as the new England manager should have seemed inevitable. Much derided for his supposed preference for "route one" football and his teams' reliance on physicality and obduracy, he will now lead England into an era where the likes of him have seemingly gone extinct, obliterated by a meteor containing pint-sized midfield metronomes, false No 9’s and philosophy spouting managers.

Tough tackling journeyman to a no-nonsense manager

For the uninitiated, Big Sam Allardyce started his career a journeyman footballer in the North of England, as a big, strapping centre-half. The young Allardyce realised the value of getting his coaching licences early, starting at the age of 26. Still, he felt that it would be next to impossible to land a coaching job, what with a 100-plus applicants for every opening, big or small.

In the summers when there was no football, he would work on-site with his building company, breaking down walls, refurbishing houses. A Scottish background had taught him the value of good old hard work and a steady income, and Allardyce went about starting numerous businesses – pubs, social clubs, snooker houses – to make ends meet.

Advertisement

His first coaching job was dumb luck, as the chairman of Limerick called him after looking at the Professional Footballers' Association list, which was alphabetical. Limerick won promotion to the top flight in his only season there, winning the First Division. Having gotten his break, Allardyce held on for dear life, landing assignments at West Brom as an assistant, and finally managing Blackpool, Notts County and Bolton Wanderers, his club from his playing days.

It was at Bolton Wanderers, whom he managed from 1999-2007, that Big Sam came into his own. He revolutionised the mediocre, little-known club, turning the Division One strugglers into Premier League regulars, known as the biggest banana skin of them all even among the big boys.

A blend of the old and new

One aspect of his managerial career that was largely overlooked is his extreme foresight when it comes to diet, technology and statistics. A young Allardyce moved to the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the US for a season, and imbibed modern training, management and recovery practices employed in American Football at the time.

While at Bolton, his backroom staff were instructed to use the statistical tool ProZone before anyone had even heard of it. Transfers, playing time, injuries and various other facets were decided after thorough research of the available statistics. Diets and nutrient supplements were introduced, elongating the players of several stalwarts at Bolton. In 2003, Allardyce met Billy 'Moneyball' Beane, the man credited with changing modern baseball through his use of effective statistics. It would further strengthen his belief in the use of data to gain a significant advantage.

One of his long-running feuds of the early 2000s was with the Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger (a Beane admirer himself), who was credited with bringing about a change in the English game when he arrived from Japan. Wenger, a perceived purist of the beautiful game, would frequently complain about the tough tackling Bolton team, who would bully Arsenal on the pitch, and catch them out on set pieces. It might just be that he shared a lot more in common with the Frenchman than either would have ever thought possible.

Allardyce could get England out of their funk

“Allardyce will take English football to the Dark Ages”, shouted the headlines, perhaps overdoing it a bit on the melodrama front. The biggest charge levelled against Allardyce is regarding the no-nonsense, defensive playing style he cultivates in his teams, particularly against the "bigger" clubs.

Jose Mourinho once moaned after a 0-0 draw that an Allardyce managed West Ham played “football from the 19th century”, and that “it’s difficult to play a football match in which only one team wants to play”. Not a man to care much about consequences, Big Sam replied with, "I don’t really give a sh** to be honest with you. He can't take it, can he? He can't take it because we've outwitted him – he just can't cope."

Perhaps it’s time England had someone unafraid to speak his mind, and bring the underperforming stars down a couple of pegs. What is certain is that he will not pander to anyone, and use specialists in every position.

His philosophy is simple: keep safe the first two-thirds of the pitch at all times and do your duties diligently. The final one-third is where you can come alive, express your skills and individuality. The man lambasted for boring football was also the man who bought Jay-Jay Okocha, perhaps the most entertaining Premier League player in the last two decades.

His confidence and belief could rub off well on England’s new breed of international stars, coming off the back of a traumatic Euro 2016. An international team doesn’t have the distractions and constant evolution that characterises a club. That and the current lack of expectation from England and Allardyce himself could work in his benefit, as he gets time to build a core team of disciplined, functional players, almost akin to how Conte had to reconstruct and manage the Italian national squad.

Allardyce has desired the England position for some time now, and had even given an interview back in 2006, when the Football Associations' Yes Man of the time, Steve McClaren, was chosen ahead of him. In typical Big Sam fashion, he took it on the chin and moved on, saying, “I got close. I hit the crossbar”.

This time around, with the ball crossed in from the touchline, Big Sam has leapt up and smashed it in with his head. Now he needs to hold on to his lead.