Sam Allardyce says one Newcastle United player refused to play for him during short spell at club
The cards were stacked against Sam Allardyce from the start at Newcastle United, given his Sunderland connections, but had the former Bolton Wanderers boss delivered on the pitch, we're sure the Toon Army would have warmed to him eventually.
Unfortunately, "You don't know what you're doing" was chanted more than "Toon Toon Black And White Army" at St James' Park under Allardyce's very brief reign.
Allardyce lasted less than a year in the job, and one of his first actions as boss was selling captain Scott Parker to West Ham for £7 million.
Now, Allardyce has claimed that he was left with little choice but to Parker with he midfielder wanting out.
Scott Parker couldn't get away from Sam Allardyce fast enough
Speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, Allardyce revealed that the captain who famously lifted the prestigious Intertoto Cup certificate wanted to leave the Magpies and didn't even want to give things a chance under the new boss.
“Scott did it when I was at Newcastle.
“It wasn’t too bad. It was a straightforward, 'I need to leave and you need to get rid of me as quickly as you possibly can'.
“And I’d only been in the job for, I don’t know, a day, two days. And I think that there were two reasons for that. I understood the first reason, which was he felt that the Newcastle fans didn’t like him.
“And the Newcastle fans, if they don’t like what they see, show their disapproval, rightly so. But they also get behind you extremely well, if they do like what you do. And so I was faced with the fact that they, I think it was his first, he’d only been there one season.
“Good player, of course, obviously. And what do you do? Can’t stay here, can’t cope with it, need to move.”
Seems like more of a you problem if we're being honest, Mr Allardyce
I can't speak for the rest of the fanbase, but I didn't dislike Scott Parker. In fact, I felt he was one of our better players at the time. Solid in the middle of the park without being overly flashy.
Parker moved to West Ham, where things seemed to suit him a lot better. He would be reunited with Allardyce at the Hammers very briefly before departing for Tottenham Hotspur.
Maybe it was you, Sammy.
