Sam Allardyce was a short-lived Leeds United manager, overseeing the final four games of the 2022/23 season, and then eventually overseeing the club’s relegation from the Premier League.
The one-time England manager never won a game in charge of Leeds United. He took one point from his four games in charge and saw Leeds finish in 19th place of the Premier League table, with the club having been in the Championship since.
Daniel Farke is now the man trying to get the Whites back into the big time. As things stand, Leeds sit in 1st place of the Championship table despite a couple of disappointing draws to kickstart 2025, the last being Leeds’ 3-3 draw against Hull City.
Next up, Leeds take on Sheffield Wednesday at Elland Road. It’s a must-win for the Whites who now boast just a one point lead at the top of the table. And as the club makes progress in the second tier, so too does former youth star Archie Gray in the Premier League.
Sam Allardyce and Karl Robinson rave about Archie Gray at Spurs
Leeds United sold Gray to Spurs in a £30million deal last summer. Since, the 18-year-old has gone from strength to strength with the North London club, having featured 14 times in the Premier League already this season.
Surprisingly, Ange Postecoglou has been using Gray as a centre-back. He started and finished the last outing against North London rivals Arsenal; although his Spurs side eventually lost 2-1, it shows how much Postecoglou trusts Gray.
Speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, former Leeds boss Allardyce spoke about Gray, saying: “You’ve got to say this by the way, not in the memory of man would I ever have seen that lad playing centre-half. Not with anything in my time as a manager would I have thought, ‘is he playing centre-half?!’.”
Allardyce’s former Leeds no.2 Karl Robinson also weighed in. He added: “He [Gray] was a lot younger when we were there but you could see he was technically very good.
“I never saw him playing where he’s currently playing for Spurs but it shows you his personality, because his family is in the game, that he’d happily play in any position. He’s everything I love about football. He just wants to play and it doesn’t matter where.”
Do Leeds United have a sell-on clause for Archie Gray?
Gray’s fine performances for Tottenham may see him linked with an even bigger-money move in the near future. In which case, many Leeds fans might be dreaming of the club netting a rather large sell-on fee.
But Leeds don’t have a sell-on clause for Gray. The club never inserted one when they sold him to Spurs and that could yet see the Whites miss out on tens of millions of pounds one day.
Whilst that’s a tough pill for fans to swallow, it’s still great to see Gray progressing so much and doing so well in the top flight. Allardyce and Robinson’s praise of the Englishman is certainly thoroughly deserved.
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