Kevin Nolan has claimed that he has never seen a boss adored by their staff more than one former Leeds United manager, insisting that he is so often asked about him.
Leeds have certainly had their fair share of interesting managerial tenures over the last decade, with very few getting much of a chance while Massimo Cellino was at Elland Road.
And there was further chaos during the second-half of the 2022/23 season, with Jesse Marsch, Michael Skubala, Javi Gracia and Sam Allardyce all taking charge of the side at various points.
Allardyce’s appointment, in particular, seemed to be a sign of how far Leeds had fallen since Marcelo Bielsa led the Whites to a ninth-place finish in their first year back in the Premier League.
Kevin Nolan lauds former Leeds boss Sam Allardyce
Allardyce deserves a lot of respect for the managerial career he has had, doing enough to be appointed England boss in 2016. But his stock has fallen quite a bit since then, with West Brom being relegated during his brief tenure a few years later.
Allardyce had been out of work for nearly two years when he was handed the nightmare task of overseeing Leeds’ final four games of the season in 2023, with most fans seemingly already resigned to relegation.
Ultimately, the gamble did not pay off, and Leeds and Allardyce faced plenty of ridicule – particularly after Allardyce famously put himself alongside Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta as a coach in his first press conference as Leeds boss.
But perhaps there is one aspect where Allardyce is as good as anyone in the business, with Kevin Nolan telling No Tippy Tippy Football Podcast that he has always been amazed by his man-management skills.
“Just to let you know, I’m gutted that he’s decided to sit back, because, being under him as a player, I would love to now be in the staff with him, because I’ve never seen a man [more] adored by his staff,” he said.
“I’ve been back at West Ham, everybody at West Ham, I must say this, everybody at West Ham still asks about him, ‘do you still speak to Sam?’ All of the staff who were there then, because of how humble he was and how lovely he was to them and the way he treated everybody. They just loved him.”
Whites’ relegation was on the cards long before Allardyce’s surprise appointment
Appointing Allardyce definitely appeared to free up some of the players. Of course, the collapse against West Ham and the final day defeat to Tottenham put paid to any hope he may have had of sticking around beyond the end of the season.
But Leeds were a complete mess when he arrived and the decision to change simply came too late – although who knows what may have happened had Patrick Bamford put Leeds 2-0 up from the penalty spot against Newcastle.
Allardyce was definitely not the reason that Leeds were relegated, and it would have been interesting to know what he could have done had he come in at the time when Gracia was appointed.
Gracia started well, but faded quickly, and Leeds were soon back to conceding too many goals. You could definitely understand if some fans felt that turning to Allardyce at that stage may have made the Whites harder to beat.
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