The Sunday Mail
SAM ALLARDYE has welcomed the chance to manage “a very ambitious club” after making a swift return to football management after his ill-fated 67-day stint in charge of England as Alan Pardew’s replacement at Crystal Palace.
The 62-year-old has signed a contract through to 2019 worth around £2.5m-a-year, marginally less than he briefly earned with the national team, with bonuses applicable if he succeeds in steering the club to Premier League survival.
Palace have lost eight of their last 10 games, and 22 over the course of the calendar year, to hover just a point and a place from the relegation zone and will hope to tap the talents of a manager who has never seen his team demoted from the top flight.
He has acknowledged the priority is to tighten Palace up defensively, with the team having achieved only two clean sheets in the league in close to a year.
“You generally get a new job on the back of there being a few difficulties at a club, and I’ll hopefully sort those difficulties out with my experience,” he said.
“I’ll try and get a few more results on the board over Christmas and the new year to make everyone feel more comfortable.
“It’s been very impressive the way Palace has grown, and the fact they’ve held their Premier League status over a number of years. I hope I can bring some joy over Christmas and New Year, and in the long-term between now and the end of the season. The club itself seems to be very ambitious.
“Certainly the chairman and the owners seem to be taking the club forward in the right direction. I like the look of the squad, and that’s probably the reason I’m here. Hopefully I can help the club move forward. It seems to be very ambitious.
“Attacking players, when you’re in possession, are fantastic. The strengthening in that area by the club and Alan this season has brought a lot of flair to the team, and quite a few more goals compared to last year.
“But the other side is we have to stop conceding when we are not in possession, so the goals we score win us games. That’s what we have to turn around. Let’s stop losing first. The objective is trying to find the basis of consistency to bring us some results.” — Guardian.
