[Archived] Allardyce on Kean and Venky's

[True Blue & White]

Sorry I did skip back 4 pages and couldn't find the Kean thread so I'll post it here...

Sam Allardyce: I run clubs my way because it works. I'll turn the Hammers into winners

He considered Steve Kean to be another such colleague. Until, that is, he discovered that the 'football advisers' to the new Blackburn owners also happened to have a direct link to Kean's representatives and Kean ended up with the job.

Allardyce says he has not heard from Kean since he called the Scot to say that he and his assistant, Neil McDonald, had been sacked. 'Since then we have never spoken,' says Allardyce. 'But I would say the thing is firmly in Steve Kean's court.'

Does he believe Kean already knew the job was his when he called him that day? 'He'd have to have done wouldn't he really,' he says. 'Only he knows when he wakes up and looks in the mirror. But other influences must have told them to sack me because I never met them (he means the new owners, Venky's).

'They were sacking Neil at the same time as me and I was saying, "Why? Why are you sacking him? Neil needs to take over. He's been a manager. If you don't like Sam Allardyce's face, fair enough. But here's the man". I have to be careful what I say. Confidentiality issues. But you all know the answers to that. I can't repeat it. It was sad.'

He was enjoying life at Blackburn. He pays tribute to Kenny Dalglish and the late Jack Walker for what they created but says he, too, made a significant impact at the club.

'They were desperate to sell Blackburn for many, many years and my satisfaction comes from the fact that I created so much interest in the club again,' he says. 'I know it sounds like I'm blowing my own trumpet but I might as well. Mourinho does it all the time and everyone loves him.

'I created such a vibrant football club that there were four or five who wanted to buy it, having never shown any interest before. I was producing profit with results.' He has had some rotten luck with takeovers. First at Newcastle and then at Blackburn.

'You always expect change in every business that is bought for millions of pounds,' he says. 'You become an unfortunate bystander; the product of new owners who didn't quite stick to what they said they were going to do. For that reason it doesn't depress me. There are times in life when you take the chance to go and do better, like I did at Newcastle, and through no fault of my own it went horribly wrong.

'I'm actually all right with Mike (Ashley). There was no problem. At least he said in the end what he should have said in the beginning. "I wasn't the one who picked you so I didn't really want you". Anyway he settled the contract and I left, bitterly disappointed.

'But the proof of the pudding is what happens to a football club when you leave. What happened to Limerick when I left? They went down. What happened to Blackpool when I left? They went down. What happened to Notts County? They went down. What happened to Bolton? They nearly got relegated. What happened to Newcastle? They got relegated. What happened to Blackburn? They nearly got relegated.'

[Steve Moss]

Sam Allardyce is an excellent manager. He'll do well with WHam. Venkys may not have liked his style (few did, though I supported and support his pragmatic approach under the circumstances), but I think they made a huge error when they let him go mid-season without a highly qualified replacement.

[Majiball]

Sam Allardyce is an excellent manager. He'll do well with WHam. Venkys may not have liked his style (few did, though I supported and support his pragmatic approach under the circumstances), but I think they made a huge error when they let him go mid-season without a highly qualified replacement.

And the first paragraph should spell out exactly why he left, even then the brown nosing would appear to have been going on behind the scenes.

[jim mk2]

Shafted by a sneaky gobshite - the workplace is full of them.

Good luck to Sam - he'll do a good job at West ham. Just wish he wasn't at such an unlikeable club.

[Miker]

Has he lost weight?? He looks way too thin on that picture!

[ada2020]

What a load of ######!!

I cannot believe someone had to sit there and listen to him spout that. Fair enough it's clear he was done over by the owners, but all that "vibrant football club" is tripe.

The owners (Walkers) dropped the asking price, that's why we were sold.

People love Mourinho for his arrogance because he wins things, wherever he goes.

I wish him well whatever but really, some of those comments were laughable.

Que the Big Sam love in.

[slough_rover]

Exactly this is complete BS. I heard him on SSN yesterday spewing some crap about how his teams are known for vibrant football. Vibrant my A@@. A case of someone believing his own hype.

[Miker]

What a load of ######!!

I cannot believe someone had to sit there and listen to him spout that. Fair enough it's clear he was done over by the owners, but all that "vibrant football club" is tripe.

The owners (Walkers) dropped the asking price, that's why we were sold.

People love Mourinho for his arrogance because he wins things, wherever he goes.

I wish him well whatever but really, some of those comments were laughable.

Que the Big Sam love in.

In his first full season in charge he finished 10th, a couple of places higher than the position we budgeted for, therefore -> profit.

He kept us up after we were in serious danger of relegation and showed that results could be achieved on a minimal budget.

He showed that a team budgeting for 13th, could finish 10th, attract players like Salgado, and keep one of the best home records in the league along the way (including being undefeated against the big four at home).

He might have not been the cause for the club being sold, but he definitely had an impact on creating the conditions under which the club was seen as an attractive prospect. Don't forget that under his tenure we made huge money on players like Bentley, Santa Cruz and Warnock and re-invested very little of it.

[onlyonejackwalker]

Even after all this time those that objected to his appointment cannot acknowledge his work and positive contribution to the club. This says far more about them than the last manager.

The words in the article seem pretty straight forward to me and tie in with what we either knew, or had deduced anyway.

Well done Keano, classy guy, best of luck in court.

[Kelbo]

One thing that stinks here is that the article clearly indicates that all of the staff who have left Rovers have been bought out with gagging orders, Sam Allardyce is an outspoken man and no way would he hold back unless that was the case.

It will all come out at some stage and from bits I have learned from other people, I could never warm to Kean, its obvious to anyone with half a brain what happened here, its wrong but we have to continue as a club, get on with it and hope that events turn around and Kean gets what he deserves.

As for creating a vibrant club, well yes, he did, not neccessarily by his style of football, but by results both on and off the field, he was well organised,confident and had the ability to sell the club to better players than maybe some managers would have been capable of.

The stand out point for me was this, why wasnt Neil McDonald given the managers job?

As Allardyce states, he is unable to give the answer Venkys gave him due to confidentiality issues, why? what are Venkys so afraid of?

I hope I am still around when all this lot comes out (plus more) when we will be given clear evidence that much of what has been posted on here during Venkys/Keans tenure is shown to be correct.

[John]

And the board at the time did not want Steve Kean as manager, funny that.

There is a still a horrible smell over that whole situation but life moves on I guess.

[philipl]

That is an incredibly sanitised version of what went on.

Steve Kean is evil and the club has no future whilst he remains manager.

[alexanders]

Kentaro. Its obvious. Not Keans fault. Doesnt meen hes a backstabber.

[K-Hod]

FFS I thought this had all been dead and buried..... MOVE THE F**K ON!

Allardyce should never have been sacked when he was, but it's happened now.

[Mike Graham]

One thing that stinks here is that the article clearly indicates that all of the staff who have left Rovers have been bought out with gagging orders, Sam Allardyce is an outspoken man and no way would he hold back unless that was the case.

It will all come out at some stage and from bits I have learned from other people, I could never warm to Kean, its obvious to anyone with half a brain what happened here, its wrong but we have to continue as a club, get on with it and hope that events turn around and Kean gets what he deserves.

As for creating a vibrant club, well yes, he did, not neccessarily by his style of football, but by results both on and off the field, he was well organised,confident and had the ability to sell the club to better players than maybe some managers would have been capable of.

The stand out point for me was this, why wasnt Neil MoDonald given the managers job?

As Allardyce states, he is unable to give the answer Venkys gave him due to confidentiality issues, why? what are Venkys so afraid of?

I hope I am still around when all this lot comes out (plus more) when we will be given clear evidence that much of what has been posted on here during Venkys/Keans tenure is shown to be correct.

These "gagging" or confidentialty orders are almost impossible to enforce, I work on them on a regular basis and the employer has to go to the County Court to recover the compensation payment for a breech of the contract.

This effectively means that they seek redress for a breech of the clause by going to a public court, and all the beans are at risk of being spilt.

I expect that we will hear more from BFS about our chicken friends.

[onlyonejackwalker]

FFS I thought this had all been dead and buried..... MOVE THE F**K ON!

Allardyce should never have been sacked when he was, but it's happened now.

People have moved on, but this article was posted and people replied, probably presuming this to be a message board operating in the normal way. Just a thought.

[BigUts]

Have we travelled back in time 9 months?!

[Mike Graham]

FFS I thought this had all been dead and buried..... MOVE THE F**K ON!

Allardyce should never have been sacked when he was, but it's happened now.

Move on? No, only apologists ignore or rewrite history. I ain't going to ignore what Venky's have been doing to destroy my club.

[BuckyRover]

Steve Kean is evil

Hitler

Pol Pot

Idi Amin

Breivek

Kean

Huntley

Shipman

Something like that?

[K-Hod]

Thanks OOJW, but I just figured that there was nothing else to say on the matter, given all that's been spouted on here, in the media, on tv et al since Allardyce was relieved of his duties.

Especially when you consider that nothing that was posted is exactly a revelation, such assertions have been made for a long time, again since Allardyce left the club. Hardly breaking new ground is it now?

[RovertheHill]

Yes he was a good manager but "created a vibrant club?" What a complete load of over-the-top nonsense. Same people slating Kean for trying to have a positive pre-season outlook are the same people that seem to think that statement is a reflection of reality, and in many cases are the same people who were saying the trust had to sell because the club was dying on its arse. Similarly, all you lot up in arms about "gagging orders" need to get a grip. There's no such thing as a gagging order in this scenario. Sam will have been offered money to keep quiet - and he clearly took it - so stop getting all dramatic about it. If he'd wanted to talk about it he could have turned the cash down.

[super_arran]

I surprised he didn't mention "lady luck" playing a part in it all

[chris]

That is an incredibly sanitised version of what went on.

Steve Kean is evil and the club has no future whilst he remains manager.

Philip you are an experienced man of business ( hopefully good guess) how many successful people in a director or higher status would you consider "nice guys that wouldn't stab you in the back the first second they can".

I'll tell you my experience none.

Nice guys don't always come first.

Hell my Director last month fired a member of staff and asked her to bring back the company car from Scotland, she phoned saying I can't come today my father has died and its his funeral in two days in Wales" my Director then sent a letter in the post charging her £250 per days she didn't return the car.

Did anyone see Piers Morgan on American Appretice, he was evil, rude and ruthless but won and destoryed eveyone else. He even sent one of his team to spy on the competition then betrayed him.

[Kelbo]

Yes he was a good manager but "created a vibrant club?" What a complete load of over-the-top nonsense. Same people slating Kean for trying to have a positive pre-season outlook are the same people that seem to think that statement is a reflection of reality, and in many cases are the same people who were saying the trust had to sell because the club was dying on its arse. Similarly, all you lot up in arms about "gagging orders" need to get a grip. There's no such thing as a gagging order in this scenario. Sam will have been offered money to keep quiet - and he clearly took it - so stop getting all dramatic about it. If he'd wanted to talk about it he could have turned the cash down.

And JW,Tom Finn and Neil McDonald as well, greedy buggers!!

[John]

Philip you are an experienced man of business ( hopefully good guess) how many successful people in a director or higher status would you consider "nice guys that wouldn't stab you in the back the first second they can".

I'll tell you my experience none.

Nice guys don't always come first.

Hell my Director last month fired a member of staff and asked her to bring back the company car from Scotland, she phoned saying I can't come today my father has died and its his funeral in two days in Wales" my Director then sent a letter in the post charging her £250 per days she didn't return the car.

Did anyone see Piers Morgan on American Appretice, he was evil, rude and ruthless but won and destoryed eveyone else. He even sent one of his team to spy on the competition then betrayed him.

Speaking to someone in the US last week and they were telling me some staff at a company he knows consider killing their boss just so they can take their job, scary stuff eh!