Everton boss Sam Allardyce is Marmite – you love or hate him – but Toffees should stick with him
A vocal section of Goodison Park has decided his face just does not fit and have criticised his style of play
IF SAM ALLARDYCE had signed a contract to the end of this season with the sole objective of keeping Everton up, it would have been seen as a very shrewd move by the club.
Not only that but the Everton fans might actually be thanking him and appreciating the job he has done.
But because he wanted to build something at Goodison Park and stay on for at least another season, they have turned on him.
The fans have decided his face just does not fit and have criticised his style of play.
Again, on Saturday at Huddersfield, they subjected him to abuse as he won another game.
The last seven matches have seen Everton win four, draw two and lose one — to champions Manchester City — keeping four clean sheets in the process.
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.
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Indeed, of all the clubs who have panicked and changed managers this season for fear of the drop, Everton have come out best of the lot with the decision they made.
Roy Hodgson has done a great job at Crystal Palace too but the rest are still in the mire.
Everton were also in danger before Allardyce arrived.
Fans deny him that 4-0 win over West Ham when he first arrived which lifted the club to 13th — but they were still in trouble. They haven’t looked like going down since he arrived.
Nobody outside the top five has a better record than his 33 points from 22 games.
Some Everton fans will tell you it is the least he should have done, given the money spent and the squad he has.
So what was going on before Sam got there then?
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.
You will hear few complaints from fans of Bolton, Blackburn, Sunderland, or indeed Crystal Palace, who Sam also saved from the drop.
It seems at clubs like West Ham and Everton there is an air of entitlement to a certain style of play.
Winning football simply isn’t enough for them.
Yet I can’t remember the last time they were sweeping sides away with a free-flowing game in the style of Barcelona. People complain that young coaches are not given a chance at the highest level.
But clubs employ the likes of Sam and Hodgson for a reason.
Nobody who owns a club at the top level wants to risk it.
They want their nous, their experience, they know they are getting a safe pair of hands in a time of trouble.
They are good managers, it’s as simple as that.
However, while Sam says he will still be at Goodison Park next season after talks with majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri, I just can’t see it.
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The fans are still the people club owners listen to.
When their voices started to be heard louder and louder at the Emirates, or not at all as empty seats appeared, then even Arsenal had to act and get rid of their greatest manager in Arsene Wenger.
Everton cannot go on with such disgruntlement in the stands.
Sam has stabilised things at the club and wanted to make it better again next season — I believe he would have done.
Anyone who saw his Bolton side knows what he can do if there is long-term planning in place.
Unfortunately, I fear he will not get the chance.
Perhaps he is better off out of it, if this is the treatment he gets for a job well done.
He certainly should not be getting subjected to such abuse.
As he said after Saturday’s win at Huddersfield, he has done his very best for Everton. Sadly, for some, that just isn’t enough.
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