Sam Allardyce will relish the opportunity to manage Leeds United from the home dugout at Elland Road this weekend. This Saturday’s clash with Newcastle United will be Allardyce’s second in the job after taking over from Javi Gracia at the start of the calendar month.
However, it will be his first United game on Yorkshire soil and he’ll no doubt be keen to see the famed raucous atmosphere have a positive influence on the game as his side chase three huge points. With just three Premier League games remaining, Leeds know a win over the Champions League-chasing Magpies would go a long way towards securing survival, taking them out of the bottom three for a couple of hours at the very least.
A defeat, though, and Leeds would be forced to watch the rest of the Premier League results trickle through over the rest of the weekend, knowing they are at risk being cut even further adrift. Allardyce is more than aware of the implications of Saturday’s result and the pressure is well and truly on at this stage of the campaign.
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That hasn’t stopped him from thinking about Elland Road and some of his memories of it this week, though, and he’s even spoken to club legend Eddie Gray, who knows a thing or two about the situation Allardyce finds himself in, having stepped in halfway through the 2003-04 Premier League season to coach the relegation-threatened Whites.
“Loved playing here as the away team,” Allardyce said when asked about his expectations of Saturday. “Love the atmosphere. I came as a manager and the same.
“The historical nature of the ground and yes, it might be an old stadium but it’s Elland Road and what it stands for. The old days, when I was growing up watching that team.
“I was speaking to Eddie today at great length. He's got grandsons here in the academy. He’s looking really fit, I was wondering if he could put his boots on and play, he’s the fittest 75-year-old I've seen in a long time. He's still around the club, he still comes in he loves it that much. It’s a great football club.”
It seems Gray, who had two spells in charge of the Whites after making 454 league appearances for the club as a player, had a word of advice or two for Allardyce as well.
“Every game means a clean sheet,” The former England boss added. “I mean, the negative rubbish around clean sheets is bizarre for me because every successful club is the best clean sheet record, the best defensive record.
“I just had that conversation with Eddie Gray today and he said ‘there’s only one way you get out of it like we did with Leeds, when we didn’t play well we made sure we got a clean sheet’.
“If you don't listen to me, listen to Eddie Gray. If you don’t listen to him either, listen to Pep or Alex Ferguson. They all win the league with the best clean sheet record.”
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