Sam Allardyce has indicated that he is feeling the pressure of the job as West Brom manager, jokingly suggesting that the stress is turning his hair a different colour.
The former West Ham and Everton boss joined the Baggies in mid-December, having been tasked with steering the club to safety and away from the relegation zone.
However several months down the line and West Brom are still in the bottom three, now eight points from safety.
Allardyce is set to return to Selhurst Park this weekend as Albion face his former club Crystal Palace, with the travelling side desperately needing a result if they are to beat the drop.
Speaking ahead of the game [Daily Star], Allardyce revealed that he is feeling the pressures of the task at hand.
Allardyce said: “I’ve only been here a couple of months and my missus says my hair’s going whiter already.
“The 38 points mark is historically enough and I think 38 will be enough this time. By the time this has all finished, I will either have completely grey hair or none at all!”
Understandable situation
While the pressure on Allardyce’s certainly doesn’t feel unjustified, we hope he’s feeling the strain of expectation for the right reasons.
Having never been relegated, Allardyce also has his own personal record to consider, and though he has every right to want that to remain spotless it doesn’t really concern West Brom all that much.
We hope that if Allardyce is feeling pressure it is because he desperately wants to keep Albion in the top flight, as do we all, and hopefully that’ll see him pull out all of the stops over the next couple of weeks.
With both Brighton and Newcastle languishing above us in the league table there is every chance that the great escape can still occur, but we need to keep working hard and keep believing that it can be done.
If Allardyce loses all his hair but still keeps us up, it’ll have all been worth it.
In other West Brom news, John Percy has revealed that a number of Albion players don’t have relegation release clauses in their contracts.