Allardyce: I’m just as good as Guardiola, Klopp and Arteta

With the likes of Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Mikel Arteta, the Premier League is full of innovative managers – and according to Leeds United’s new head coach Sam Allardyce, he is right up there with the best of them.

The 68-year-old has been without a club since leaving West Bromwich Albion when they were relegated at the end of the 2020/21 season, the only time in 17 top-flight seasons that he has finished in the bottom three.

Now taking charge of Leeds for their final four matches of the season, in a bid to keep them in the Premier League, he has launched a passionate defence of his abilities.

“In the highlight of this year when [clubs] have had their troubles, they’ve always known where I am, but it’s never materialised until now,” said Allardyce in his first press conference at Leeds.

“The football club chooses which way it wants to go, and far too many people think that I’m old and antiquated, which is so far from the truth.

“I may be 68 and look old but there’s nobody ahead of me in football terms. Not Pep, not Klopp, not Arteta. It’s all there with me, and I shared it with them.

“They do what they do. I do what I do. But in terms of knowledge, and depth of knowledge, I’m up there with them.

“I’m not saying I’m better than them but certainly as good as they are. I just wish that sometimes you can get the opportunity that you can show it.

“But that’s never going to happen for me now, apart from [aiming to] keep Leeds up, and if I stayed at Leeds, [hoping] this club was big enough to build a team that was going to challenge those boys eventually, but that’s a long story away.”