Sam Allardyce 1983

Samuel "Big Sam" Allardyce was born 19th October, 1954 in Dudley, West Midlands. He grew up on Dudley's Wren's Nest estate and was educated at Sycamore Green Primary School and later at Wren's Nest Secondary School.

Sam joined Bolton Wanderers as a centre-half in 1973 and is best remembered as a player for being part of the side which won the Second Division title in 1977–78 to secure promotion to the First Division. Between 1973 and 1980, he appeared in 184 games for the Wanderers, and scored 21 goals.

He was signed by Ken Knighton to play for Sunderland AFC for whom he played 26 times during the 1980–81 season. During his career, he also played for Huddersfield Town, Coventry City, Millwall and Preston North End, whom he captained to promotion from the Fourth Division in 1986–87.

In 1983, Sam signed for the Rowdies. He would appear in 11 games and scored 1 goal with 1 assist. He made his Rowdies' debut, on July 1st at Seattle, in a 0-6 loss.

Whilst at West Bromich Albion, Sam was named as assistant manager (player-coach) to Brian Talbot in February 1989—ironic as he was a supporter of Wolverhampton Wanderers, one of Albion's fiercest rivals. On the playing side, he appeared in only one game for Albion, coming on as a substitute against Newcastle United in November 1989. His spell at the Hawthorns lasted two years before he and Talbot were sacked as the club slid towards the Second Division trap door for the first time.

He then took up the role of player/manager of Limerick and guided the League of Ireland team to promotion by topping the first division with a number of points to spare in 1991–92 in his only season at the club. He made his League of Ireland debut on 6th October, 1991.

After his one successful season in Ireland Sam returned to England and to Preston North End for the start of the 1992–93 season to take up the role of coach/assistant manager under Les Chapman. Ten games into the season however Chapman was sacked and Sam was given the role of caretaker manager. His short spell in charge was an impressive one with Preston putting in some fine performances, picking some much needed league points along the way. The clubs board though felt that his managerial inexperience at league level worked against him and opted in December 1992 to appoint the more experienced John Beck who in turn appointed Gary Peters as his assistant. Sam carried on with the club in his original coaching capacity for another 18 months but the disappointment of missing out on the Preston job spoke volumes and when in July 1994 arch rivals Blackpool offered him the manager's job, he jumped at the chance.

His spell at Bloomfield Road included his leading the club, in 1995–96, to their most successful season in years; however, he was sacked at the end of the campaign after failing to guide them to Division One. In matches in the Football League, Sam still has the highest win percentage (44.57%) of any Blackpool manager. Five years after his sacking, he stated that he still had no idea why the club relieved him of his position.

In January 1997, Sam made his return to football as manager of Division Two basement club Notts County. He arrived too late to save them from relegation, but they won promotion at the first attempt by finishing top of Division Three at the end of the 1997–98 season. Notts County broke several club and national records, winning the title by 19 points and becoming the first post-war side to win promotion in mid-March.

He remained in charge at Meadow Lane until September 1999, when he returned to Bolton Wanderers in Division One and became their new manager. In early 2006 it was confirmed that Sven-Göran Eriksson would leave the England manager's job after the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and as a successful English manager, Sam was touted as a major candidate for the post. Bolton confirmed that they would let him talk to the FA if they approached him. However he was never offered the job, which was eventually given to Steve McClaren.
Speculation arose on 28th April, 2007, that Sam would quit as Bolton manager at the end of the 2006–07 season, a move that the board initially denied. However, Bolton announced on 29th April that he was to leave the club after eight years, effective immediately. Sammy Lee was announced as his replacement the following day.

After the resignation of Glenn Roeder, manager of Newcastle United, on the 6th May, 2007, Sam immediately became the leading contender with bookmakers and the media for the resulting vacancy, and it was confirmed that he had held a meeting with Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd in London. On 15th May, 2007, Newcastle United announced that he had signed a three-year contract to manage the club. On 21st May, 2007, Sam had already axed six players from Newcastle United's squad before the 2007–08 season has started. They included Olivier Bernard, Craig Moore, Oguchi Onyewu, Titus Bramble, Pavel Srníček and Antoine Sibierski. He made his first signing as Newcastle United manager on 7th June, 2007, with Australian international striker Mark Viduka from local rivals Middlesbrough on a free transfer.
After a series of disappointing results in the run-up to Christmas, and after gaining only one point from a possible six from bottom-of-the-table Wigan and Derby, there was speculation that his tenure at Newcastle could be under threat.
On Wednesday 9th January, 2008 Sam parted company with Newcastle by mutual agreement.

Today, Sam is often seen on Sky TV as a soccer pundit, during live games.

Big Sam was appointed the Manager of Blackburn Rovers on December 17th, 2008.

Can anyone help me with a photo of Sam in a Rowdies jersey? - If so please email me.