Unsung heroes and trailblazers – Rooney and Allardyce on management

Sam Allardyce is frequently portrayed as an old-school coach who simplified the game, but he was once recognized as one of the game’s innovators who was open to new and innovative management approaches.

Before sports science became a commonplace, he used it many years after it became popular. Those who played for him and later became managers would leave a lasting impression on them.

Wayne Rooney, the former England and Manchester United captain, revealed in his most recent podcast episode how Allardyce influenced him during the latter stages of his professional career before taking his first steps in coaching.

On The Wayne Rooney Show, Rooney said, “At the time I was under Sam [at Everton between 2017 and 2018], I was older and knew I wanted to work in coaching.”

Allardyce’s coaching style was largely influenced by his playing in America in the mid-1980s.

He claimed that “a lot of the stuff” I brought from the NFL in America when I played for the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

“I went up to the NFL lads’ training facility, saw the staff, and everything.” I was greatly affected by it.

By the time I was a manager, I had to experiment, and I did it at every club in the lower divisions to get where I wanted to go. I used to evaluate something new.

Bolton, which Allardyce was in charge of from 1999 to 2007, was one of Allardyce’s most successful managerial positions.

One of the first coaches in English football to introduce sports science, data analysis, nutrition plans, and recovery methods during his early years at the club.

He continued, “I wanted staff to find me something that football doesn’t do at the moment.”

So we divided off each department, gave the reins to the department’s head, and they each had to develop their own vision for what we’re going to accomplish and what we’re going to accomplish.

Both Allardyce and Rooney concur that players and staff must unite and agree on a common goal for success.

Allardyce and Rooney were both keen to make sure those working in the background were recognized for the work they did, but it is those on the football field who are given the credit.

Rooney remarked, “When I was England’s captain, I sent all of the England staff to Las Vegas, and I paid for them all to go out there,” adding that at the end of one year.

“I paid for two pool parties, and stuff,” the statement read. Making a huge difference in the classroom is what the players do for the staff.

The team, the staff, Allardyce continued, “We called it the team behind the team, the staff.”

We are all one team, but the support group was the one that backpedalled.

Because the players weren’t very wealthy, they gave the staff a matter of generosity at Christmas.

The player liaison officers were a crucial and highly valued role for Allardyce.

One player liaison officer, one male, and one female, Allardyce said. You have no idea what a role they played.

They were the ones who resolved the mortgages, bank accounts, and houses. They picked me up at the airport at midnight and received the phone call.

They were incredibly important. They organized Christmas parties so that everyone could attend and do that.

Allardyce believes that getting along with a club’s owner is more important than ever in the modern game.

The issue is that now you speak to all of the football club’s employees, not just the owners, he said.

When we arrived at Crystal Palace, Sunderland beat us, and owner Steve Parish yelled and screamed in my office, “Come on, you’re going to the dressing room, go on tell them how you feel,” because he is a genuine Crystal Palace fan and owner.

It lasted for 20 minutes. We should have taken it into the recording studio.

Rooney also co-founded the clubs Birmingham City and Plymouth Argyle, both of which had owners who were based overseas, and he acknowledged it was challenging to talk to face-to-face.

He continued, “The issue is that so many owners are abroad somewhere, and you can speak to them over the phone without feeling that passion.” Although Bill Kenwright was undoubtedly the club’s chairman [at Everton], it’s the same because you can tell whether he had a bad or good heart for the club.