Pride

So here we are again. The revolving door at the Football Association has spat forth in the person of Sam Allardyce the next brave soul to try his hand at rehabilitating the crushed, barely breathing reputation of the England football team. In my opinion the appointment of Big Sam could turn out to be master stroke by the FA, a happening most would consider less likely than the sighting of a 1933 penny. And for good reason. In 2012 Roy Hodgson was, according to the FA, the right man at the right time for England. Unfortunately for the FA and success-starved England fans it transpired that Roy was the wrong man all of the time, including the times he promised "next time" and we gave him more time.

Big Sam on day 1. Hopefully not as good as it gets.

So why my optimism with Allardyce? Well, for a start he's English but not TOO English. Roy Hodgson was the archetypal "muddling though" Englishman as Three Lions boss, never 100% certain of anything but possessed of a gravitas that allowed him to get away with a fiddling, adjusting the knobs approach to managing England. As England's hammer horror of a last 16 exit played out in Nice, Hodgson cast a tragic figure in the dugout, the brilliant but eternally unproductive mad professor whose chemistry set has just blown up in his face. Allardyce on the other hand issues a more earthly aroma while going about his business in the beautiful game. Born in England of working class Scottish parents his is a style born of needing to do more with less, and quickly before someone with more steals your lunch, gets your girl and nicks your job. Through necessity Sam has consistently knitted satisfactory purses from second rate sow's ears whether succeeding as a journeyman defender at Bolton who couldn't hit a ten yard pass or as a manager at Sunderland avoiding relegation while having access only to defensive midfielders, wingers and a five foot six (admittedly ex-England) centre forward.

That last example is at the heart of my argument for why Sam Allardyce stands a better chance than most of reinvigorating the Three Lions. Today's England manager will get favors from absolutely NOBODY. Forget Mourinho's "I'll make sure I supply Sam with plenty of high quality players for England" - that's Mourinho saying what a Manchester United boss is supposed to say and, well, saying what he wants to say for whatever reason he wants to say it. The Premier League is bigger business than ever with the League's managers under more pressure than ever to succeed. Unlike when Germany and Spain transformed their national team philosophies in lockstep with their domestic leagues, the new England manager will have absolutely no control over the environment from which his talent is drawn. It might sound very desirable to implement a back to front possession-based playing style for the England team but if the Premier League is only serving him up water carrier midfielders, wingers and target men then we'll have to make do. This doesn't mean we can't have a winning England team. What it does mean is that the England manager must possess the tactical know-how to adopt flexible playing styles based on the skills and positional abilities of the English players available. Of the candidates who were up for the England job this go-around Sam meets this requirement best in my opinion.

So there you have it, my money is on Sam to turn around England's fortunes and restore some national pride in our Three Lions. Not too much money though. I've had hope too many times before and been disappointed. Maybe this time, though. Maybe this time he'll get it right.