Sam Allardyce was Leeds’ caretaker manager towards the end of last season, and after a handful of fairly promising performances in the Elland Road dugout, there were questions around whether or not he would be staying on at Leeds.
Allardyce eventually left the club, but now, he has claimed that it was actually his decision to leave rather than the clubs.
Speaking on Up Front with Simon Jordan, Allardyce has claimed that he chose to leave Leeds because he really wasn’t sure about the backing he would receive from the board and he wasn’t sure about the 49ers takeover process, a process that he still believes has taken too long.
Why Allardyce rejected Leeds
Big Sam spoke about his departure from Leeds.
“It was nothing to do with my ego. It’s that I choose where I want to be. I choose whether I will get Leeds back up again and under the circumstances I saw I thought it would be hugely difficult. The two factors of not staying is do I think there are enough goals up front? If they keep all of their players probably yes, but you have to lose some players for financial reasons. I wasn’t sure about the support I would get at the top because of the change of ownership, and in my opinion that has taken too long,” Allardyce said.
Into the unknown
In all honesty, we can understand why Allardyce would reject Leeds under these circumstances.
Yes, it’s one of the biggest jobs in English football, but as we’ve seen over the years, it can be an impossible task to manage Leeds in the Championship.
Other than Marcelo Bielsa, no manager had their career boosted by a spell at Leeds during the Championship era, and at the age of 68, Allardyce really doesn’t need that sort of scrutiny and pressure after a long and successful career.