Allardyce was on the verge of becoming Man City manager, deal fell through at the last second...

petrusha said:
I reckon that, in a parallel universe where there was no Thaksin and then no Mansour, Allardyce could have done very well indeed for us in relative terms. If he'd managed something along the lines he did at Bolton - where he took them to a domestic Cup final, qualified for Europe, finished regularly in the top half, usually had a memorable game or two per season where his team bloodied the noses of the Sky Four, and signed a few players who were great to watch (in the manner of Okocha and Djorkaeff in his spell at the Reebok) - we'd have been ecstatic with that.

None of us at the time would have expected anything better than that - indeed, it would have been beyond the wildest dreams of many a City pessimist. But if he could achieve it at Bolton, why not with us as well? And if he had done it here, it would have been better than anything we Blues had seen since the seventies, and it would probably have made him something of a club legend.

Still, it wasn't to be. I suppose this bald Catalan bloke we've got now will have to do! ;)
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Tbf to him, in his early days he actually signed some really fun players at Bolton, albeit most past their best - Okocha, Djorkaeff, Anelka, Campo etc
All were better than Corradi and Samaras
 
I am sure this was only on or the plan if Ray Ranson and SISU bought the club and not Thaksin?
 
Since everything has turned out so well in the end, we wouldn't want to change anything that happened in the past 20 years or more.

Not even the slightest detail.
"Butterfly effect" and all that.
 
Dribble said:
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https://www.sportbible.com/football/man-city-sam-allardyce-548731-20230301

"Allardyce was well in the frame to take over from Stuart Pearce back in 2007, having just ended a superb nine-year spell in charge of Bolton Wanderers.

'Big Sam' had guided Bolton into Europe and had the likes of Nicolas Anelka, Ivan Campo, Fernando Hierro and Jay-Jay Okocha in his talented squad.

John Wardle and David Makin, who founded JD Sports, owned City at the time and had an agreement with Allardyce, according to the man himself."

Just imagine how different things could've been! Phew!

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I hear it fell through because the bungs we were willing to pay were not big enough.
 
Was Big Sam Bolton manager when we hit the bar six times and they won 1-0 courtesy of a last minute penalty?
 
Just after Sam departed from Newcastle I was in London for the City Chelsea game and stayed at the Marriot in Kensington. I went in the hotel bar for a nightcap after a night out and the only two other people in there were Sam Allerdyce and Peter Reid. I think they were doing some TV punditry the next day. They were both very friendly and chatty and Sam told me that it had all been arranged for him to be the next City manager. Just before it was announced he said he got a phone call from Mr. Wardle who told him that Shiniwatra was taking over the club and so the appointment never happened.
 
I've never understood why so many people dislike Allardyce as a manager. He's been superb pretty much everywhere he's been. Recently we've heard this "all he does is boot it" but that's nonsense. You couldn't get to where he did without a brain.

At Bolton he took them into Europe - that alone was a phenomenal achievement. To attract and manage the likes of Anelka, Campo, Djorkaeff, Hierro, Okocha took some doing and there's just no way they would've played for him if he was a clueless long-ball merchant.

He rightly managed his way to managing Newcastle and deserved the chance. He turned up there and realised the club and squad was garbage - and he was entirely correct. You can't play Pep-ball with crap players and pretty much as soon as they went they started the slide to relegation. He got West Ham up and kept them up, did well at Everton too.

I think he's a perceptive manager. If he went now to Everton, they would stay up. Same with Southampton or Bournemouth or Leeds. He correctly understands a teams problems and plays to their strengths - which is exactly what a good manager does.

Would I have him at City? No I wouldn't. However, if he'd have come to us around 2006 or whatever it was, I'd have been made up.
 
GoatersLeftShin said:
I've never understood why so many people dislike Allardyce as a manager. He's been superb pretty much everywhere he's been. Recently we've heard this "all he does is boot it" but that's nonsense. You couldn't get to where he did without a brain.

At Bolton he took them into Europe - that alone was a phenomenal achievement. To attract and manage the likes of Anelka, Campo, Djorkaeff, Hierro, Okocha took some doing and there's just no way they would've played for him if he was a clueless long-ball merchant.

He rightly managed his way to managing Newcastle and deserved the chance. He turned up there and realised the club and squad was garbage - and he was entirely correct. You can't play Pep-ball with crap players and pretty much as soon as they went they started the slide to relegation. He got West Ham up and kept them up, did well at Everton too.

I think he's a perceptive manager. If he went now to Everton, they would stay up. Same with Southampton or Bournemouth or Leeds. He correctly understands a teams problems and plays to their strengths - which is exactly what a good manager does.

Would I have him at City? No I wouldn't. However, if he'd have come to us around 2006 or whatever it was, I'd have been made up.
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spot on assessment, and this logic should be applied to all players, managers etc... right person in for a club / team in a specific moment of time. 2006 he would have been perfect for us, and actually i think he would have utilised the huge investment in training complex and sports scientists etc that later managers enjoyed. That was his thing, getting the most out of players - with those resources and his appetite for the game then = would have been interesting. I agree wholeheartedly re hoof ball, Bolton never played that way, Campo on the ball was a joy to watch, he also got a lot out of hard working players such as Nolan and Kevin Davies...we need to weed out the ignorant followers of football now who spout lazy clichés that are unfounded. Very much like the no fans no history lazy jibes we get thrown at us ...constantly.
 
LongsightM13 said:
Tbf to him, in his early days he actually signed some really fun players at Bolton, albeit most past their best - Okocha, Djorkaeff, Anelka, Campo etc
All were better than Corradi and Samaras
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His Bolton team were a good outfit, would have been great being a genuine Bolton fan then. Waited since the 70's to see good players again down there. All 4 above would have been great to watch for two or three seasons
 
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