Expert: Sam punished for failure to entertain

A lack of entertainment cost Sam Allardyce his job at Blackburn, according to one English football journalist.

Daily Express football correspondent Mick Dennis conceded that while Allardyce’s dismissal was a surprise, the ‘writing may have been on the wall’ when the club’s new owners talked of a need to bring fan-friendly football to Ewood Park.

The manager’s exit was announced on Monday in a statement from owners Venky’s Group, despite Blackburn sitting in 13th and Allardyce leading the club to a creditable 10th in the English Premier League last campaign.

His sacking comes just a week after Newcastle United disposed of manager Chris Hughton in similar circumstances. Dennis said he believed that – as canny as Allardyce has shown himself to be as a manager – even he would have struggled to see the axe coming.

“I don’t think anyone saw that coming realistically and he certainly didn’t have a hint of it when he was going through his instructions on the side of the field on Sunday, visibly,” he said.

“On reflection, I think the writing was on the wall for him when the new owners, and in particular the matriarch of that family, talked about entertainment because Sam’s not big on entertainment.”

“There may also have been discussions about the role of the owners and how much say they are going to have in things and Sam doesn’t take kindly to that and they’ve had a parting of the ways. But it was a surprise, I can’t stand here and pretend I saw it coming.”

The sacking comes after Blackburn lost 2-1 to Allardyce’s former club Bolton on Sunday – a result Dennis said could have contributed to the timing of the decision.

“I think the timing was significant because they lost to Bolton. The new Bolton model is that you don’t have to be rudimentary with elan and verve and I suspect that is what this is all about,” he said.

“He did a good job at Bolton and yet, now, Bolton play an entirely different game of football and I think that’s the key. It’s not so much about league position as about style of play and how you achieve that position and that’s the verdict that has been passed on Sam on this occasion.”