Sam Allardyce believes Leeds United fans 'deserve more' following the club's relegation and admits he understood their 'disapproval' during the dismal final-day defeat to Tottenham. The odds were against the Whites securing survival on Sunday, but their faint hopes were swiftly killed off as they fell to a 4-1 home defeat.
Harry Kane opened the scoring after just two minutes, while Pedro Porro doubled Tottenham's advantage two minutes after the restart. The Elland Road crowd did not shy away in expressing their frustration with the performance, and Allardyce was asked if he had a message for the supporters following his four-match spell in charge.
He told the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast: "Look, I understand the disapproval and I would have been surprised if they didn't show their disapproval after Sunday's performance with everybody. I think against Man City and against Newcastle, they were helping the team.
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"Obviously, it started against Tottenham, they were there to help the team but everyone got kicked in the gut, and that just killed the atmosphere, the fans and also killed the players for a while even though they responded quite well after that. You've got to take these moments as a professional, and you've got to not let them happen in such a big game because the fans can make a difference, there's no doubt about that.
"But in the end, they showed their disapproval, and I agree with that 100%. But they will still show up no matter what, they always have and always will. They just deserve more, and whatever happens from here on in, they have to try and get from the Championship back into the Premier League at the first time of asking."
Speculation is already mounting over the futures of a host of Leeds' first-team stars following relegation. Allardyce has confirmed he is due to hold talks with the club's hierarchy over his own future, and has outlined his belief the squad needs to be reshaped to adjust to the 'mentality' of a Championship campaign.
Allardyce said: "It depends how much of the squad they keep, or what they decide you want to lose. It's not in your hands, I've got to talk to Leeds before the end of the week to see where we might go if we do go in that direction.
"That's obviously something we will talk about later in the week, but where do Leeds need to go? We need to have a strong squad to play 46 games, and play Saturday-Tuesday, Saturday-Tuesday for most of the season.
"That's a different mentality, it's been a while but I did that at Bolton, ended up in the playoffs and got to the Premier League in 2001. Then did it at West Ham, a bit like now in the first year, we got relegated and got back in through the playoffs.
"That was a lot of work, 28 players out, 16 players in the summer to resolve the financial situation, and to have a strong enough squad to get promoted. You have to look at what Burnley did and say this is what Leeds would need to do."
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