Sam Allardyce blames David Moyes for ruining West Brom move for Jesse Lingard
The one that got away for Sam Allardyce during his ultimately doomed spell in charge of West Brom was losing out on Jesse Lingard to West Ham.
The former Baggies boss calls it his “biggest loss” at the Hawthorns where the club were eventually relegated from the Premier League, and says it was almost a done deal before David Moyes stole in at the last minute.
The Manchester United attacker went on to have a highly successful time on loan with the Hammers, scoring nine times in 16 league games, which would have gone a long way to helping to preserve West Brom’s top flight status had he managed that under Big Sam.
Speaking to Ladbrokes, the former boss said: “The biggest loss for me at West Brom was Jesse Lingard – we should have got him in that January window.
“It was Moyesy’s fault that we didn’t get him. He was coming to The Hawthorns and then Moyesy popped up at the last minute and nabbed him.
“We’d had a long conversation with Jesse and his dad, as well as Manchester United, and we’d as good as come to an agreement. He definitely thought about it.
“That would have been really good for us, it would have given us an even bigger chance of staying up.”
Missed opportunity
The Baggies eventually finished in 19th, 13 points behind 17th-placed Burnley and well short of safety.
Including the 2-2 draw with Fulham on January 30th that season, the team shared the points six times between the end of the window and end of the season, while suffering three defeats by a single goal during that period.
A extra strike in each of those games would have seen them narrowly escape relegation, so it is not beyond the realms of possibility that securing the England international could have made the difference, however unlikely that exact breakdown would have been.
In truth the damage had already been done by the time Allardyce arrived in December, with Slaven Bilic securing a single victory in his time in charge beforehand.
But it is frustrating to think of how close the club claim to bringing in a January signing who went on to make such an impact over the following months, considering how things have gone since then.
In other West Brom news, Steve Bruce has revealed the Baggies’ “best weapon” in the quest to turn things around.