Allardyce still “smarting” from lack of support

SAM ALLARDYCE has cited a lack of financial support at boardroom level as the reason for his controversial sacking by Newcastle United and insisted he was not given a fair chance to bring success to Tyneside.

Allardyce parted company with the Magpies in January after just eight months in charge following a poor start to the season.

But Allardyce, who was appointed by former chairman Freddy Shepherd before last summer’s takeover and yesterday spoke for the first time in detail about his departure, claims he was not given the backing he had been expecting when he took the job.

“I am smarting,” Allardyce said. “I think that for me, given the timing, and the few games I had, it was a massive shock when they said they were going to make a change.

“At the start of the season we had a short window with the new owners to work with. We had not as much money as I expected.

“I didn’t really come for that, I came to spend big money, which is what Freddy did – he was obviously the man that employed me. That was obviously the bottom line to make life difficult at some stage.

“I explained that to the new owners and said somewhere down the line we’d get a bit of stick, and they haven’t been able to withstand that by the looks of it. I’m a casualty of that. I don’t think any of that was my fault.

“At the time I considered myself to have a chance, but since I’ve left things have been said that I was never their man.”

Allardyce firmly believes he could have proved a successful Newcastle manager had the circumstances been different.

The 53-year-old is proud of his managerial record with clubs such as Blackpool, Notts County and particularly Bolton, and hopes his ill-fated spell at St James’ Park has not tarnished that.

He added: “You make the right decisions by your own track record. I think I’ve made the right decisions over the last 16 years by the clubs I’ve been at, building my reputation.

“That’s the disappointing thing for me. I hope it hasn’t damaged my reputation.”

Meanwhile, Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate has bears no ill feelings towards his former defender Jonathan Woodgate after his departure from the club.

The 28-year-old completed a move to Tottenham during the January transfer window and later cited the London club’s ambition as a major factor in his decision.

However, Southgate, who signed for the Teessiders for €10.5 million from Real Madrid last summer after a hugely-successful loan spell, has taken no offence at the remarks.

He said: “I have tried to ring Jonathan a couple of times and he has tried to call me back. I enjoyed working with him. I think the move will be good for him because the change of environment will give him a fresh start. I hope it goes really well for him.

“He is absolutely entitled to say what he wants to say. I have got no problem with that at all. He has been a little bit disillusioned – he wanted the progress within the club to happen quicker than it can.

“We have to build the club piece by piece and unfortunately, there is no quick fix for that. I believe we are a stronger group than we were last year, but we have had an incredible amount of things to deal with.”