Thursday 15 October 2015 12:58, UK
New Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce speaks exclusively to Sky Sports News HQ reporter Aidan Magee about why he left West Ham, what happened with his heart scare and what still drives him to do the job...
Aiden Magee: What made you want to come back, Sam?
Sam Allardyce: "I thought at the end of last season that maybe enough was enough but that was probably just an emotional reaction to leaving a club [where] I had four very successful years, thinking 'should I carry on, should I do it again?'
"As time goes by you realise you have the football addiction. The blood starts churning at the start of the season, when you see the action of the Premier League on the telly. You see the conflicts and difficulties some managers have had - some good, some bad, some unexpected.
"The lure of the manager's job is the responsibility; the challenge. It's the experience gained going in amongst players and saying 'I want to make you better lads, and want you to enjoy working together'. I don't consider it to be work.
"We've got to go out and entertain the people who pay to watch and that should be a pleasure. Millions of people play football as a pastime at the end of a hard week, and pay subs to do it, and we're going out, doing what we love doing and being paid for it."
AM: Did you fear you'd be forgotten if you stayed out of the game too long?
SA: "I think another opportunity would have come along but you don't have too long before you get forgotten.
"I don't think Dick Advocaat and Brendan Rodgers are going to be the only two managers who lose their jobs in the Premier League this season, particularly with the predicament that all managers face this year; that, if they struggle, the financial downfall is far greater than at any other time since the Premier League began.
"Whoever gets in the Championship play-off final this year will be deemed the £250m game."
AM: Do you think the media and supporters have the wrong impression of you professionally and personally?
SA: "There's that persona you portray publicly. We all behave differently, publicly and privately, no matter what we do. We have our private life and we have our persona when we're dealing with things in the public eye. I know that people that know me know what I'm really like, and those that don't know me base that on what they see on camera and in the papers.
"Sometimes I need to create some controversy, to create a diversion and that's come with years of learning the process of making sure you sustain the success you're having, or bringing the club out of a difficult period. It's not said off the top of my head, in the spur of the moment. It has generally been planned. Occasionally you slip up but generally it's well thought-out.
"Whatever people think of me, I always do the media, I don't shirk my responsibilities and I accept the criticism when it comes."
I do this job because I want to do it, not because I've got something to prove to somebody else. It's for my own addiction to football.
AM: Harry Redknapp said you were 'too rough and too northern for West Ham'. Is that part of the perception thing?
SA: "Harry Redknapp got as much stick at West Ham as I did and I think that's why he said what he did, because that's what West Ham fans thought of me. I don't think that was the case. Since I left there I've bumped into lots of West Ham fans and had lots of messages from supporters who did appreciate me and the achievements of the team.
"I had a great time there and my four years were not a failure by any stretch. I had a great time."
AM: It must have hurt to leave West Ham though?
SA: "Small pockets of people were being disruptive - particularly on social media - and that's life these days. A small number of people can create a lot of problems if they're constant and persistent and unfortunately, in the end, people tend to listen to it and believe it.
"The two Davids (Gold and Sullivan) and Karren (Brady) had for some reason made their mind up about my future and in all honesty, so had I. They just hadn't told me and I hadn't told them - that's the bottom line. We then went our separate ways. The time was right and off I went.
AM: Despite everything you've done at all levels of the game, do you still feel you have something to prove?
SA: "I'm not sure about that. I do this job because I want to do it, not because I've got something to prove to somebody else. It's for my own addiction to football. I can't be affected by good or bad or by what people say. You need a thick skin and what you don't read or don't hear doesn't affect you so you steer clear of it.
"It's important to listen to what the fans say because you want them on your side."
AM: Did your childhood and how you came into the game affect how you are as a manager?
SA: "I was proud that I achieved the level I did with limited ability. I think I've far greater ability as a manager than I had as a player. Because of that learning curve of playing in all four divisions and having a desire to stay in football and learn as much as I could - but it's your own desire to succeed that decides if you succeed or not. Your education on its own won't do that.
"I had the desire and the determination to maximise my ability as a player and it's been the same for me as a manager. It's the same with players, talent alone isn't enough. Muhammad Ali, the greatest boxer in the world ever, said: "To win the world championship, the will must be stronger than the skill." That rings true across any walk of life."
AM: You've recently described the heart scare you had. It was described as minor surgery but it was a bit more than that, wasn't it?
SA: "Having a heart scare was a life-changing experience. Was it time to go, was it time to finish? The answer from the cardiologist was 'no'.
"I am now a completely different person and a completely different manager. Not too much surprises me now. I'm lucky I have experience because sometimes I ask myself if I'd have got another job and most of the time the answer is 'no'. Statistically, if you fail in your first job, then 80% of the time you don't get another one.
"It's a difficult life to sustain yourself in and this made me realise it can all come to an abrupt end. I think a lot of players and managers suffer when they try to find a new career and they become very depressed by that."
AM: You've been very critical of Arsene Wenger and Rafa Benitez over the years and there are probably others - how do you manage that situation?
SA: "Arsene showed me disrespect. I have every admiration for what he's achieved. He's a fantastic manager and he's the only foreign manager that has been 17 years in one job, but don't disrespect me in the beginning. It's the same with Rafa. He's achieved much more than me - but don't disrespect me.
"That's why I criticised them. I move on and I have no problem with them now. If they've got a problem with me then I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. The job is hard enough without us creating problems for ourselves but it creates good television, doesn't it?"
