Former Black Cats boss Sam Allardyce has recalled a classic moment from his time at the Stadium of Light
Former Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce(Image: Adam Davy/PA Wire)
Sam Allardyce has revealed he told a Sunderland player he was a waste of money while he was in charge of the club.
The former Black Cats and England boss replaced Dick Advocaat in the 2015/16 season and helped save Sunderland from relegation.
Allardyce pulled off a near impossible job at Sunderland as he orchestrated a 3-0 win against Everton on the penultimate day of the season to ensure the Black Cats retained their top-flight status at the expense of North East rivals Newcastle United.
The former manager left the Stadium of Light at the end of the season to become the boss of England, which proved to be the shortest tenure in the history of the national team.
When speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast via BOYLE Sports, Allardyce spoke of the time he told Sunderland’s £14m acquisition Wahbi Khazri that he was a waste of money.
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“I’ll tell you the story about that because I was getting a bit frustrated with him,” said Allardyce on the podcast. “We were in a difficult position.
“This is going into, I think, the last four games of the season, where we need to win at least two to stay up. We were doing a bit of training, and we were messing about. I said something like, I’ve wasted £14million on you. I mean, so anyway, that’s not putting an arm around him, is it?
“So anyway, we’re playing the game, and let’s face it, we won 3-2 and he scored a right-foot volley to get us back in the game at 1-1. And he come running over and said, ‘Gaffer, do you think I’m worth £14million now?’.”
Khazri arrived at the Stadium of Light from Bordeaux to help steer the club away from the relegation zone, but would only contribute two goals and one assist in 14 outings.
Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce (left) with Wahbi Khazri on the touchline in 2016(Image: PA Wire)
Turning his attentions to the modern-day side, Allardyce had praise for head coach Regis Le Bris, calling him one of the Premier League’s best managers. Allardyce ranked this season’s Premier League bosses and put Le Bris in third place.
He said: “I’ve done this because I wanted to give a manager in the promoted three the credit they deserve. We’ve experienced an embarrassing season for two seasons, with the teams that got promoted getting relegated straight away. It looks like Sunderland and the coach have looked at that and said, ‘we’re not going to be one of them’.
“It’s early days yet, but they look like a very comfortable outfit. They won’t be in trouble if they continue like that.
“It takes the pressure off, and it’ll be a long time before they slip down to the bottom three, even if they have a bad spell.”