Former West Brom coach ‘heartbroken’ he was denied a job with Leeds United for ‘bizarre’ reason

Add as preferred source on Google

It’s safe to assume few Leeds United supporters will look back on the brief Sam Allardyce era with a great deal of fondness or nostalgia.

It anything summed up the muddled thinking of that disastrous 2022/23 season, it was the appointment – with only four games remaining – of a coach who felt just about the perfect antithesis to the legendary Marcelo Bielsa.

Not even the most pessimistic of Leeds United supporters would have imagined, when Bielsa was inspiring a top-half Premier League finish in 2020/21, that their beloved club would call on Sam Allardyce in a desperate attempt to save their skins a couple of years later.

A then-68-year-old Allardyce would become Leeds’ fourth head coach since New Years’ Day, too, following on from Jesse Marsch, Michael Skubala and Javi Gracia.

But his reputation as a so-called ‘survival specialist’ did little to benefit a Leeds team for whom the damage had already been done. The former Newcastle, Everton and West Ham boss would pick up just one point from a possible 12, with a 4-1 home defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on the final day sealing Leeds’ fate.

Sammy Lee explains why he did not join Sam Allardyce at Leeds United

Allardyce cut a frustrated figure on the Elland Road touchline, too. Shorn of his long-serving assistant Sammy Lee.

Liverpool legend Lee first joined Allardyce’s coaching staff at Bolton Wanderers back in 2005. The pair had been almost inseparable from then on. But while Leeds would call upon ‘Big Sam’, ‘Little Sam’ was dismayed to see a jury service letter fall onto his doormat.

“Sam gets the opportunity to go to Leeds. I’m in my favourite restaurant and Sam tells me to get myself down to Leeds, we’ve got four games left. I say; ‘Well, that’s great but I’ve got to start jury duty the next day!’,” Lee recalls.

“I’d already got my solicitor to put off the service because of my profile in Liverpool, but they said your employment has nothing to do with it.

“And when I went into court the first day they said; ‘No one can be exempt from jury service’. I was picked as sixth in the jury of twelve.

“I was sworn in and then the judge was swapped. But, because I had been sworn in, there was no chance I could leave. It was so bizarre. I was heartbroken of course.”

Allardyce explains why he picked Karl Robinson and Robbie Keane

Allardyce would turn to another trusted lieutenant in Karl Robinson. The now-Salford City boss worked with Allardyce at Blackburn Rovers.

And returning to Elland Road was Robbie Keane. Former Leeds striker Keane joined Allardyce’s staff too.

“I only had four games, which was a massive task obviously. So you sit down and think; ‘Who’s out of work?’,” Allardyce explains. “Karl Robinson pops up and I offer him the job.

“We’ve got no time and then someone puts Robbie Keane into my head. I got to know him really well at Soccer Aid. I think; ‘He is a massive Leeds fan and the Leeds fans love him’.”