Contrary to what Everton fans think, and have been singing from the terraces, Sam Allardyce ‘has done a great job’ at Goodison Park – according to Premier League legend Alan Shearer anyway.
Allardyce took over the club amidst a serious relegation battle, but has worked his anti-relegation magic once more, leading the Toffees to eighth in the league with games to spare.
Writing in his regular column for The Sun, Shearer reckons that the former England boss has done well:
“He has them eighth in the league. The best the club could probably have hoped for before the season started was seventh.
“There is no way they were going to get into the top six. So looking at that, Allardyce has done a great job.”
Allardyce was appoinged back in November, over a month after the sacking of Ronald Koeman, who left Goodison Park with the club flirting with the relegation zone. While the 260 Premier League goal striker admits that Big Sam’s style of football might not be to the Everton fans liking, the club have been forced to go down the Allardyce route due to their own poor planning:
“The spending before his arrival had been very poor — and the planning likewise.
“They sacked Ronald Koeman, couldn’t get in the man they wanted in Marco Silva, so had to go to a tried-and-tested manager given the difficult circumstances they were in.
“Sam says he is like Marmite, you either love him or hate him.
“It is true he was not liked at Newcastle for how he played or at West Ham, and now he finds himself in the same position at Everton. The fans don’t like the style of football.
“They see neighbours Liverpool playing fantastic attacking football. Even Spurs, a club they see as comparable in stature, playing the ‘Tottenham way’.
“But their managers had better foundations to build on than Sam walked into — and more time.”
