My latest 'off the cuff' piece is on Big Sam.
Predictable?
Will Big Sam be the saviour? Will he sign Kevin Nolan?
So many questions and after his first press conference, lots of those questions are still outstanding.
Oh and he has a book out too!
Big Sam, reputably blown out of the England job due to powerpoint issues has never had the best stats in the world.
Supporters and fans, argue that his tactics and win at all costs attitude outweigh the lack of attractive football.
However, despite his backroom team and the penchant for using statistics, the one statistic that I look for, is the win %.
According to
www.premierleague.com/en-gb/clubs/managers/profile.overview.html/sam-allardyce, Big Sam has a 34% success ratio in Premier League games, winning 148 of his 437 games.
Hardly the work of a tactical genius. Or is it?
A lot of that time, was spent building and establishing a squad at Bolton. Developing a team of flare and guile that ended up in European campaigns.
A move to Newcastle, saw him preside over a cracking start. Until it all turned sour.
You may recall my mention of the poisonous atmosphere at SJP, during a defeat to Liverpool one cold, November afternoon. He didn't last too much longer.
There was also an issue with alleged dodgy transfer dealings that hung over his head, like a bad smell.
Spells at Blackburn and West Ham ended in his sacking and then a contract not being renewed.
So why the fascination with him?
According to my calculations, he has 30 games to turn Sunderland around and get points on the board. 37 points, until he reaches the supposed safe total of 40 points.
It is too late in the day to work out what sort of win percentage he needs to turn the season around, but I am guessing he needs to beat his 34% win ratio.
What about Nolan?
According to his press conference earlier today, he said he might sign Nolan (which opens up a whole new can of worms - which we will leave for another day!)
His assistant? Well his long time confident Neil McDonald is managing elsewhere now. Surely Allardyce will give him a chance to make up for lost time, after the strange goings on for McDonald at Carlisle all those years back. I am not sure the SOL faithful would welcome ANOTHER ex Newcastle player into the fold.
Brought up at his press conference, Allardyce responded by saying that he is speaking to someone and has irons in the fire.
As for him being the saviour - who knows?!