‘He made you believe’ – Sky Sports pundit backs former boss to succeed at West Brom

Stephen Warnock has provided a ringing endorsement of Sam Allardyce as the former England manager replaces Slaven Bilic at West Brom. 

Bilic was sacked on Wednesday despite leading his side to an impressive 1-1 draw against Manchester City on Tuesday.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Warnock waxed lyrical about his former boss and claimed that he wants to have fans on the edge of their seats.

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He said, “I remember coming out of that first meeting [with Allardyce] and four or five other players turned around and went ‘wow he totally took me by surprise there’, he broke the game down, he broke the results down.

“The most impressive thing was when he was on the training ground, he was in complete control of everything that was going on. He made you believe in exactly what he wanted you to do.

“More often than not, the game plan that he would implement on the training ground during the week would come to fruition. He’s no-nonsense at the back but he wants people on the edge of their seats.”

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It is fair to say that Allardyce’s style of football isn’t renowned for putting fans on the edge of their seat as he has been criticised for his long-ball style of play throughout his career.

But there is no doubting that Allardyce knows how to guide teams away from the relegation zone after completing such tasks at Crystal Palace and Sunderland in recent years.

The Baggies find themselves in such a position midway through December but the situation isn’t dire as one win would take Albion out of the bottom three.

However, Allardyce faces a nasty run of fixtures that includes games against Liverpool, Leeds and Arsenal in the next few weeks.

He will have a tough job on his hands but Allardyce certainly has the experience required to guide the Baggies to safety.

In other West Brom news, Simon Jordan has heavily criticised the Baggies fans who don’t want Allardyce to take over. 

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