Sam Allardyce And Rafa Benitez
Sam Allardyce says Newcastle United fans are entitled to criticise Steve Bruce if they are not happy with the side’s performance. The two managers meet on Sunday with West Brom nine points off Newcastle United who lie in 17th place. Allardyce, who managed Newcastle briefly during the 2007-08 campaign, was asked if he could relate to the pressure Bruce is currently under from fans.
Sam Allardyce said: “Who doesn’t get stick up there?! The only manager I’ve seen up there who hasn’t got any stick is probably Rafa Benitez. I think everybody else, we’ve all had our fair share of stick – Bobby Robson, Graeme Souness, myself, Glenn Roeder, Steve Bruce. You put Newcastle up in the top half, or win a cup, and you’ll be a hero. You put Newcastle down near the bottom where they don’t expect, they’ll show their disapproval. When they pay their money they’re entitled to do that. We all get stick when we’re perceived as not doing our job the way we should be doing it. What you’ve got to do is make sure the players get the fans behind them by giving them the performances that the fans want and desire – and the victories. “
Allardyce and Bruce have managed nearly 1000 Premier League games between them and are said to be friends given their veteran status in the football world. But with Premier League safety up for grabs, Allardyce insists there will be no time for pleasantries.
Sam Allardyce said: “We’ve both had a lot of encounters. We both know that when we’ve come to face each other we both desperately want to win – never more so than this one, in the predicament, we’re in. They’ve slipped down close to the bottom three, we’ve been out of the bottom three maybe only once or twice. We’re both aware and we know exactly what the victory would mean to Newcastle, and what it’d mean to us. While the game is going on, we won’t be friends, we’ll both be wanting to beat each other.”
