Allardyce concerned with winning fans over, knows job is at stake

Sam Allardyce’s comments continue to confuse and confound. On one hand he started by saying that he understood the level of fan anger following the embarrassment at the Emirates, but then swiftly followed it up by saying the Everton fume was mostly just fans overreacting.

“How do I win the fans around? By winning Saturday. The most important things for me are that the players on the pitch win the fans over for me.

“It’s not me who wins the fans over. The players do it for me because they go out and perform and get results. That is what I need them to do and that gives us all breathing space that we need at the moment.”

But then he says these next few sentences show he really doesn’t get it.

“I am not saying my job is on the line, but if you carry on losing football matches all our jobs are on the line if you are not expected to lose many. That is the name of the game.

“We won against Leicester and they all said how well we had played and what a great job we were doing. Then we go and lose to Arsenal and we are all crap and rubbish.

“That is what happens when you get a society that promotes people ringing up and expressing their opinion. But the vast majority of fans wont be like that. The ones who are volatile will ring in the most.

“You know that the internet...you say look at that negativity but it is 15 fans arguing among themselves and some of them haven’t even been to the game. Negativity happens when you lose 5-1, criticism happens, and you accept it.”

Excuse us Mr. Allardyce but the fierce criticism that has been coming your way is well more than ‘15 fans arguing among themselves’.

However, he does understand that his job is certainly under risk if he keeps up with this current run of form.

“The only way I stay in the job is by getting results, and the only way a player gets to turn his career around at the club is by us getting those results.

“The pressure lies so heavily on us at home because we are very poor on results away. That is a long process. It’s been a long time since the team was capable of winning away from home.

“I can only give players time by continuing to get results. That’s my own time first - you know the consequences of losing four or five nil, it is your responsibility to build the resilience of a team to make sure it doesn’t happen too often because you get booted out the door.”

Your move then Big Sam, and it starts on Saturday with your team selection.