Sam Allardyce wants US-style ‘Rooney Rule’ to allow UK managers flourish
The vastly-experienced 61-year-old will go head-to-head with one of the Barclays Premier League’s newest overseas recruits tonight when German Jurgen Klopp takes his Liverpool side to the Stadium of Light.
Allardyce has grown increasingly concerned at the lack of opportunities for British managers, something of a pet topic over the years, and he feels the situation is at a stage where the authorities must level the playing field.
He said: “The problem for me is we are denying British coaches positions in all divisions now, particularly in the top division and the Championship, and we need to do something about that.
“As a country, as the FA, as the Premier League, we need to protect the position of our own highly-qualified coaches, who are not even getting an interview now.
“What we could do is make sure that a British coach is interviewed for every position, a bit like the Rooney Rule.
“It would be a fantastic idea, because there are so many coaches out there who are highly-qualified, have spent a huge amount of money qualifying and have a great amount of experience and are not even getting the opportunity to do the job in their own country, as they should be.”
The Rooney Rule was adopted by the NFL in the US to ensure at least one black or minority ethnic candidate is interviewed for every head coach vacancy in an attempt to address the lack of representation from those groups.
Allardyce’s more immediate concern, however, is for his own club, with Sunderland languishing in the Premier League relegation zone on the back of four successive defeats, a run which has left them five points adrift of safety.
Their current haul of just 12 points from 18 games is close to the point where he believes their task would become near-impossible, and that is something he knows they need to start putting right with time running out.
Allardyce said: “The gap between games and points cannot get into double figures. That would be a huge task. You’d be asking a club to win three or four games on the trot.
“It’s happened at this club, it’s happened to many, many clubs, but it’s not the position you want to be in as a manager, having to win four games out of six when you have never done it in the entire season.
“For us, it’s about making sure we keep the gap and close that gap consistently over the Christmas and New Year period, where we chip away and chip a point here and a point back there and we start closing that gap as quickly as we can.”
Irish central defender John O’Shea is a major doubt for tonight’s clash. Allardyce will make a late decision on the Waterford native after he damaged a calf muscle in the 4-1 St Stephen’s Day defeat at Manchester City, with Younes Kaboul (hamstring) already facing up to eight weeks on the sidelines. Veteran Wes Brown and youngster Tom Beadling — 36 and 19 respectively — are on stand-by.
Jack Rodwell is available after sitting out the trip to the Etihad Stadium through suspension, but fellow midfielder Sebastian Larsson (knee) remains on the casualty list.
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