It’s approaching a year since Everton sacked Sam Allardyce and brought in his nemesis Marco Silva.
Allardyce had steered the Toffees from 13th up to 8th, but it’s fair to say the supporters never warmed to him during his six-month spell as Ronald Koeman’s replacement over on the blue half of Merseyside.
You would have bet your last penny that Allardyce would have made his comeback by now, but that’s not been the case, with Big Sam yet to take up another position in the managerial arena.
Only once in his whole career in the dugout - spanning 25 years - has Allardyce ever spent this long on the sidelines; back in January-December 2008 between spells at Newcastle and Blackburn.
It’s not exactly like he’s been short of offers. In February he was linked with Leicester, and a few days ago his name was bizarrely thrown into the frame to succeed Stephen Constantine at the helm of the Indian national team.
The manager murmurings have thrust Allardyce into the mix for the opening at West Brom job, who surprisingly sacked Darren Moore last month, despite being 4th in the table.
James Shan was subsequently placed in charge of the first team, and has enjoyed a perfect start, winning each of his opening three games.
Shan is now expected to retain the position through to the summer but is unlikely to be installed on a full-time basis, even if he leads the Baggies up to the Premier League. However, support is growing by the week and West Brom could opt to follow in the footsteps of Man Utd who last week handed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer the full-time job following a successful spell as interim manager.
“They must contact me or my agent and tell me what they expect...
...if everybody's comfortable with that then it's a possibility.”
Sam Allardyce responds to becoming the favourite for the #WBA job.
Would Sam be the right choice? 🤔
It's Allardyce who is currently the odds-on 4/6 frontrunner for the job, although he’s today revealed that the club have not yet reached out to him.
“I have had no contact from West Brom, I can assure you that. I don’t know where this has come from,” Allardyce told talkSPORT.
“I was surprised, with the position they’re in, that Darren lost his job. It’s strange, fourth in the table and pushing for promotion?”
The former England manager did, however, suggest that he could be tempted if West Brom did come calling.
“Do I want the job?
“It’s not a question if I want the job, it’s whether the club contact me and my agent, say what the position is, what they want me to do, what they expect me to do and what I think I’m capable of doing for West Brom.
“If it all gets to that stage and if everybody is comfortable with that, it may be a possibility.”
If West Brom do get promoted and Allardyce is appointed it will remarkably be the manager’s EIGHTH spell in the Premier League; Bolton, Newcastle, Blackburn, West Ham, Sunderland, Crystal Palace, and Everton.
Allardyce currently holds the record, having taken charge of a whopping seven Premier League clubs, one more than Mark Hughes (six), while Harry Redknapp and Roy Hodgson have both overseen five clubs.
