England furore will follow Sam Allardyce around but he is too good to be jobless | Paul Wilson

Dec 22, 2016

Allardyce has never been relegated from the top flight in his managerial career, which makes him a natural choice to succeed Alan Pardew at Crystal Palace

There will be no need for a public outcry should Sam Allardyce, as is widely anticipated, return to management with Crystal Palace before the year is out. The same year when his long-held ambition of becoming England manager was realised and then curtailed a mere 67 days later, the shortest reign of any permanent Football Association appointment, after being in charge for a single game. Allardyce is simply too capable an operator to stay out on the sidelines for long.

That was what earned him a crack at the England job in the first place and though he behaved foolishly, to use the FA chairman Greg Clarke’s phrase, the cost was entirely to himself. Even as he agreed with his employer that his position with England had been fatally compromised and accepted the need for a mutual parting, Allardyce was being hotly tipped to be back in work in no time with the next club that found its Premier League status in peril. He always is. That is what he does, and if Crystal Palace had not been in touch this time it could easily have been Swansea or even Sunderland.

Tags: Alan Pardew Crystal Palace Football Sam Allardyce Sport