Like most of the great survivors in management, Martin O’Neill likes to help the impression form that it is he doing you the favour, writes Larry Ryan

Last week, the term #kanexit was coined by frustrated Fantasy Premier League managers looking to offload the top-priced Spurs man after some inconsistent form. It's unlikely to be heard again anytime soon.

Cancelling Christmas isn’t an obvious means of ingratiating yourself with a raft of new employees but it appears that Sam Allardyce can do no wrong at Everton where the latest chapter in one of British football’s most intriguing careers has kicked off on the most promising of intros.

There was a time when owning three high-priced forwards seemed like the only the way to go in Fantasy Premier League.

Clever Liverpool, woeful Arsenal defending, in-form Hazard and the return of Big Sam and David Moyes.

The enjoyable Blues Sisters gave us plenty of what we are familiar with. The Sacrifices and The Demands. The Savage Hunger. The fierce hurt from last year, writes Larry Ryan.

Scottish fans may not like it.

Gameweek 23 will go down in FPL history for all the wrong reasons after circumstances conspired to make it a real stinker.

Had things turned out slightly differently you’d be reading about the darts as you, ahem, read. After all, if social media is anything to go by – and occasionally it is – half the nation appeared to be glued to it over Christmas. More drama than a Shakespeare festival and all of that.

I have to say that, all those centuries past, it was very far-seeing and considerate of his ancestors to arrange for the new England manager to come among us in 2016 with a ‘gate’ already appended to his surname, thus sparing journalists the effort of having to add the same four letters if – when? - his reign goes, as it were, south.

Allardyce spoke to reporters outside his home in Bolton this morning.

It’s funny, all those references that slip past you as white noise.

“He has something really big going on now,” Quinny warned us, as Big Sam gyrated provocatively across the Stadium of Light pitch, yanking off his jacket and threatening, for a terrifying moment, a celebratory full monty.

West Ham 3 Bournemouth 4: It has been a long time since the Premier League boasted a team that every neutral could have a soft spot for — not since the days of Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle perhaps — but Bournemouth are looking contenders to carry that mantle.

Premier League

Louis van Gaal pulled out a dossier full of statistics at his press conference as he hit back at Sam Allardyce's claim that Manchester United are long-ball merchants.

Chelsea 2 West Ham 0

Jose Mourinho backtracked on his 19th century football jibe against West Ham and stressed his respect for Sam Allardyce ahead of their St Stephen's Day clash.

Former Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson has backed the “formidable” Louis van Gaal to restore the club’s fortunes.

Good afternoon and welcome to our coverage of Transfer Deadline Day.

Manchester United have begun their hunt for a successor to David Moyes in earnest, drawing up a shortlist and sending out feelers to potential candidates.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho accused West Ham of playing 19th century football after a frustrating goalless draw at Stamford Bridge saw his side slip three points behind Premier League leaders Manchester City.

Chelsea 0 West Ham 0

Sam Allardyce faces fresh questions over his future as West Ham manager as an unrecognisable side were routed by second-tier Nottingham Forest in the third round of the FA Cup.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has hit out at the Barclays Premier League fixture list and it’s compilers, claiming they are laughing at the club.

Joey O’Brien turned up in Dublin this week eager to put the past behind him and forge a fresh start with Ireland but yesterday found himself prodded and probed about an international career that has been more stop than start.

A certain pressure lifted, for sure, but might it just have felt a hint of loneliness this morning, our old friend The Fixtures Computer, as it prepared to spit out the first Premier League schedule of the post-Fergie era? Nobody took greater interest in its work than Fergie. Nobody was better able to detect malice in its algorithms or parse a conspiracy out of its sequences.

It’s a fascinatingly old fashioned approach from a club which has embraced modernity like no other

The npower Championship play-off final at Wembley is widely regarded as the biggest game in club football — but Sam Allardyce says he felt more pressure facing Middlesbrough at home in a relegation battle.

MANAGER Steve Kean looks doomed as Blackburn hit rock bottom of the Premier League last night following a calamitous loss to Bolton at Ewood Park.

NEW West Ham manager Sam Allardyce may have walked straight back into another boardroom takeover battle after Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes claimed he had made an offer to buy the club.

Sam Allardyce was today confirmed as the new manager of West Ham.

Sam Allardyce is set to be confirmed as West Ham manager after revealing he will take charge when he returns from holiday.