Sam Allardyce might claim to be the ultimate pragmatist who could play beautiful football if given the appropriate tools, but we’ve yet to see much of that in his managerial career.
He’s famous for getting his team organised in defence, they’ll play to the percentages with their approach to maximise field position and set pieces and he’ll also get a big man in up top to win some headers.
West Brom don’t really have that kind of player just now, so a report from The Mirror via NUFC Blog has indicated that Big Sam has lodged an enquiry with Newcastle over Andy Carroll.
It’s believed that Carroll isn’t happy at Newcastle due to a lack of first team action, while his contract is up at the end of the season so it shouldn’t take a giant fee to bring him in.
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He’s a name who will spark intrigue because of his history in the league and he was even an important player for England for a year or two, but it’s completely fizzled out from there.
He hasn’t actually scored for Newcastle in his 30 games since returning so it might be a stretch to suggest he can fire West Brom to safety, but he’ll certainly win a few headers and at least rough up some defenders.
Baggies fans may need to hope that Big Sam has some other plans up his sleeve too.
Please come back Bilic. Andy Carroll. A player nobody wants, sorry Slav. I would have given you a 5 year contract up or down.