Monday 25 July 2016 10:01, UK
Sam Allardyce is the perfect man to galvanise and restore the confidence of the England team, according to FA technical director Dan Ashworth.
Allardyce will lead England into their qualification campaign for the 2018 World Cup in Russia on the back of a dispiriting Euro 2016 tournament, which saw Roy Hodgson's young side crash out in an embarrassing 2-1 defeat to Iceland.
That defeat cost Hodgson his job and Ashworth believes Allardyce will pick the players up and help them take their club form onto the international stage.
"He's brilliant at galvanising," Ashworth told Sky Sports News HQ. "He will galvanise the players and the supporters. We all need picking up and leading into hopefully a successful qualifying campaign for Russia and then the tournament itself. I'm sure Sam will be ideal for that.
"We have a lot of good, young technical players. We were the youngest squad at the Euros, we think there's a lot of growth in those players who will be better for the experience they've just had. He's an acute tactician and he will get the best out of the players.
"The sign of a good manager is they add value to teams and managers and Sam over his long and distinguished career has added value to every single one of the teams he has been in charge of."
Ashworth said the FA always wanted to appoint an English manager and said Allardyce stood out because of his long-term commitment to analytics and sports science.
"We felt it was really important we explored all the English candidates," he added. "We felt it was important to have an English manager in charge of the England team.
"We wanted to join up St George's Park and make sure the development teams have a route through to the senior team. There is lots of innovation around sports psychology, strength and conditioning, nutrition and Sam has a track record of buying into all of those things and fully utilising them around all his teams."
He also rejected accusations that Allardyce's style of football would be at odds with that of England's.
"There is a little bit of a misnomer about Sam's style," he said. "At Bolton he played some super stuff, at Sunderland with Jermain Defoe up front, he's hardly a great big target man, so he's a good coach and good coaches get the best out of players they have at their disposal."
