When things get crazy, there’s a bible for delusions. Hunter S. Thompson’s novel, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, begins like this: “We were somewhere near Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs started to take hold.”
If you want to get to know a bad trip better, there are also currently a large number of Premier League clubs somewhere around Barstow, rich in cash and panic and heading for the casinos. And Sam Allardyce is at the wheel.
It may seem like a hallucinogenic journey through half-forgotten backwaters of English football culture, but it’s not. Big Sam is back for real, unearthed from a life on the edge of the game and his role in a podcast called ‘No Tippy Tappy Football’ and catapulted into the mainstream.
“Give it to Big Sam,” had become a phrase football supporters repeated for laughter. But Leeds United just did it. They really did. They gave it to Big Sam. They made him their manager and entrusted him with the rescue of their club. And their investment.
Leeds have entrusted Sam Allardyce with the mission of keeping them in the Premier League
The team, which is threatened with relegation, is staggering above the drop zone on goal difference alone
Leeds have undergone a massive transformation in ethos and style since parting ways with longtime boss Marcelo Bielsa (above), who earned promotion to the Yorkshire side in 2020
The previous incumbent, Javi Gracia, had only been in office for 70 days, but Leeds conceded 23 goals in April, a Premier League record for a calendar month, lost four of his last five games, played against Manchester City on Saturday and is divorced. out of the relegation zone only by goal difference.
Leeds have four games left to play – against City away, Newcastle at home, West Ham away and Spurs at home – so they are going to give one last spin of the wheel and put it all on Allardyce.
We now live in a football world of interims and interim interims, a world of ‘flexible contracts’ as Gracia signed, a world in which a whole season at one club counts for a long life.
If you lose a few games, shoot the sheriff and name another one. And repeat. And repeat. In that world, betting on Big Sam may not be as bizarre as it seems.
Perhaps Leeds had nothing left to lose. The appointment seemed strange from the start and relations between Gracia and the Leeds fans were broken. He had already become an object of ridicule and resentment.
Javi Gracia was suspended on Tuesday, marking the Yorkshire club’s second dismissal of the season
Allardyce’s first big test will take place against title favorites Manchester City on Saturday
In the footage of the Leeds players trudging to the team coach ahead of the weekend defeat to Bournemouth, ignoring supporters along the way, they looked like the living dead. It was hard to see them take another point under Gracia.
It’s sad to see Leeds fall into this kind of chaos. It hasn’t been that long since they were the best ticket in the league. Watching them play under Marcelo Bielsa was a delight, a blur of passes and movement and breathtakingly constructed goals. They were also vulnerable, of course, but that only added to the magic.
Leeds are still trying to shake off the hangover of Bielsa’s departure. They had an identity under him, a stronger identity than any other team in the league, but that identity has faded away and now no one knows what Leeds are up to on the pitch. The players don’t know either.
Bielsa’s nickname was El Loco and he had something of a madness about him, but it was a benevolent madness compared to the confusion that now reigns on Elland Road. Allardyce, 68, will also bring an identity, but it is also a reflection of the clubs lack of planning and continuity that the style of football he encourages is the opposite of Bielsa’s high-octane style of play.
Leeds, who lost 4-1 to Bournemouth on Sunday, have just four games left to salvage their season
Owner Andrea Radrizzani has adopted the culture of ruthless hiring and firing of managers
Allardyce is a better coach than some would have you believe and he used amazingly skilled players such as Youri Djorkaeff and Jay-Jay Okocha in his years at Bolton Wanderers, but there is still a world of difference between his more laborious style of play, which tends towards a reliance on long balls and a goalkeeper, to the enchanting agility that was the hallmark of Bielsa’s side.
At least it will be some kind of security. At least there will be a clear style. At this late, late stage of the season, that may be all Leeds need.
It doesn’t change the fact that Allardyce’s appointment is part of a wider context of blatant mismanagement by Premier League clubs. Spurs’ handling of the aftermath of Antonio Conte’s departure was a joke that cost them Champions League football next season. The same goes for Chelsea’s lack of planning for Graham Potter’s succession.
Why were they so unprepared? Why were they caught in the headlights like rabbits? Why did Leeds sack Jesse Marsch and turn to a man who had been sacked by Watford, spent nine months at Valencia and whose last job was with Al Sadd in Qatar?
His style might be considered old-fashioned, but Allardyce has excelled with skillful players in the past, including Jay-Jay Okocha (left), who flourished under Big Sam between 2002 and 2006
The hiring of Roy Hodgson (left) at Crystal Palace was an overwhelming success, but Tottenham’s appointment of now-sacked interim manager Cristian Stellini (right) ended in total disaster
Given that top English clubs are still dominated by foreign managers, it is striking that many have wrapped themselves in the comfort blankets of English coaches in their moments of crisis.
Ryan Mason at Spurs, Frank Lampard at Chelsea, Roy Hodgson at Crystal Palace, Dean Smith at Leicester, Sean Dyche at Everton and now Allardyce at Leeds. Maybe it’s just that they are more readily available. Maybe they are more malleable. Maybe it’s just that there’s comfort in familiarity.
Whatever it is, Leeds is playing for high stakes with Big Sam. He was last seen two years ago when he failed to save West Brom from relegation. He is tasked with securing Leeds’ golden ticket in the Premier League.
If Leeds goes bankrupt, the £400 million sale to 49ers Enterprises, the investment arm of the San Francisco 49ers, could be jeopardized. At the very least it will force current Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani to take a big hit on the price. If Allardyce can save them from that, the madness of leading him for four games won’t seem like a bad trip after all.