What are your abiding memories of Sam Allardyce's 25 matches with West Bromwich Albion?
Somebody who brought about more structure and discipline in the team, eventually. He knew what he was working with and the club worked hard to improve his squad, in difficult circumstances, in the January window.
The games before he was able to introduce the likes of Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Okay Yokuslu, on loan deals, were painful though. They were hit for five by Leeds United, five by Manchester City, four by Arsenal, three by Aston Villa.
He used those matches to establish where Albion were in need of improvement and they did definitely improve in the second half of his tenure, but by that stage it was too late. Albion's relegation that season was more to do with the lack of quality recruitment and the general ability of the squad.
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There were just four wins in that 25-game spell under Allardyce. That relegation from the top flight was his first as a manager. Why did he fail to ignite the same inspiration and form he had seen in previous jobs?
He had it tough at Albion, no doubt. When he went into Crystal Palace, he had Wilfried Zaha and co. At Sunderland, he had Jermain Defoe. He benefitted from experienced squads and Premier League-quality players.
Albion had a lot of players who'd never played in the top flight, either regularly or at all. Those who had, like Branislav Ivanovic, were well past their best.
There were some good performances in that time. They hammered Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, won at Molineux which delighted a lot of fans as you'd imagine, drew at Anfield and improved at home.
They were often just missing that cutting edge in front of goal, despite the best efforts of Matheus Pereira who stood out like a sore thumb.
West Brom said they wanted to keep him at the end of that season, even after relegation. Why was that? Did the fans want him to stay too?
You could see why, definitely. Allardyce will divide opinion, but he's very good at his job. I know there were many within the club who were very impressed by how he went about things on the training pitch and how he implemented more solidity, even if the players just fell short overall.
If he'd had the chance to rip it up and start again that following summer, Albion would've been big players in the Championship and you'd have fancied him to have got them out of that league which they still find themselves in.
Many supporters would've been open to him staying. Others, though, are wary Albion have had Roy Hodgson, Tony Pulis and Alan Pardew. Steve Bruce was to follow Allardyce, too.
They wanted a clean slate, a young manager with fresh ideas, which Allardyce actually advised them to do upon leaving, but they got that one wrong. That's another story!
What were his tactics with West Brom like? Are outsiders' long-standing assumptions about Allardyce's long-ball, defensive, negative tactics fair?
Allardyce is defensive when it comes to the consensus of him which has been formed over a number of years. I actually thought Albion played some decent football at times.
It's horses for courses. Certain matches, when you're a team like Albion in the Premier League, will require doing the basics, going direct. It won't be free-flowing.
When the opportunities allowed, though, Albion, with Pereira, Callum Robinson, Mbaye Diagne, Conor Gallagher, Maitland-Niles and co, did play some good stuff and scored good goals. Overall I would suggest pre-conceptions of Allardyce-ball are pretty unfair.
He is aware of the image he has and would always argue it's unjust. He just adapts to the game and the opponent.
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