Sam Allardyce’s assistant at Leeds has revealed how Pep Guardiola reacted when Big Sam compared himself to the Manchester City boss.
Allardyce made an unexpected return to management when he was placed in temporary charge of Leeds for the final weeks of the Premier League season.
Leeds were staring down the barrel of relegation to the Championship, so a trip to the home of the champions was not how Allardyce would have chosen to begin his attempted rescue mission.
During his first press conference ahead of the match, Allardyce made waves with a sensational claim.
What did Big Sam say?
Addressing reporters ahead of Leeds’ 2-1 loss to City, Allardyce said:
“People think I’m old and antiquated. It’s so far from the truth.
“There is no one ahead of me in football terms – not Pep [Guardiola], not [Jurgen] Klopp, not [Mikel] Arteta.
“They do what they do, I do what I do. But in terms of depth of depth of knowledge, I am up there with them.
“I am not saying I am better than them, but I am as good as them.”
Some speculated that Big Sam was just trying to distract attention away from his confidence-sapped players, and that appears to have been the case.
“It was brilliant, it was genius at work, it really was,” Karl Robinson, Allardyce’s assistant, told White and Jordan on talkSPORT.
“We were having lunch two days before and he had a presser, and he [Allardyce] went ‘I need to take the pressure off the players’.
“You could see it when you walked in, it was so low and down. They were playing Man City, the best team in the world with [Erling] Haaland and [Kevin] De Bruyne and [Ilkay] Gundogan and you think ‘uh oh’.
“He needed something. I said ‘well what are you going to do’ and he went ‘I’ll figure something big man’.”
How did Guardiola react?
Allardyce’s ploy worked to an extent, as the press focussed on his claim rather than the failings of his players.
Certainly, Guardiola appreciated Big Sam’s tactics.
“I remember when we got to City on the day, Pep just came up to him [Allardyce] and started laughing and shook his hand,” Robinson said.
“He knew what he meant by it! It was genius in a way.”
Ultimately Allardyce was unable to save Leeds from the drop, and he departed the club at the end of the season.
