Leeds United icon Stuart Dallas has appeared on the latest episode of Ben Foster’s Fozcast to discuss a range of topics about his career at Elland Road, including Sam Allardyce’s brief tenure as manager.
Foster and Dallas also delved into large detail about the career ending injury he suffered just over two-and-half-years ago in a 4-0 defeat against Manchester City.
Having tried everything possible to get back fit, including a brief return to training, Dallas only officially called time on his career in April earlier this year.
In that period, Dallas could only watch on as Leeds staved off relegation on the final day of the season in 2022, before then returning to the Championship just 12 months later.
It was under Allardyce that Leeds’ fate was eventually sealed, though he was certainly low down the list of people to blame for that relegation.
Dallas’ predicts what Leeds would’ve done under Allardyce
The four matches Allardyce was handed to save Leeds’ Premier League status came against Manchester City, Newcastle United, West Ham and Tottenham.
In Man City and West Ham, two of Allardyce’s opponents would go onto win European trophies that season, while Newcastle finished in the top four for the first time in 20 years. Tottenham, meanwhile, was always going to be a difficult task on the final day.
Allardyce went onto pick up just one point from his four games at Elland Road as Leeds went down with a whimper, but in truth, the odds were always firmly stacked against him.
Following Jesse Marsch, Michael Skubala and Javi Gracia, Allardyce was the fourth manager Leeds had that season and Dallas believes had he been given more time, the Whites would’ve stayed up.
Speaking on the Fozcast, he said: “I was injured at the time, Sam’s come in and he’s just obviously tried to lift the mood because we were down in the dumps at the bottom of the table. It was four games so it was always going to be a tough ask for him to try and help us.
“If he had been given longer I am pretty sure he would have got us out of the situation we were in. He came in and the first game was Man City away, so straight away he’s possibly down to three games.”
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Allardyce has already admitted Leeds were beyond saving
Perhaps if Allardyce had been appointed when Gracia came in Leeds would’ve had a better chance, but the former England boss has already since admitted they were practically beyond saving.
Having been the fittest team in the league when his West Brom side came up against Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds just a couple of years earlier, Allardyce could not believe how bad the squad’s fitness levels were.
He also criticised the club’s recruitment in January of that season by suggesting he never picked club record signing Georginio Rutter due to him not being good enough.
It certainly would’ve been interesting to see how Leeds got on with Allardyce there longer, but it feels like Dallas is wide of the mark here.
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