Leeds United Exclusive: The unseen Sam Allardyce, where 'science meets footballing reality' - Yorkshire Post 6/5/23

When Premier League clubs are in relegation bother, they turn to Sam Allardyce because they know what they are getting.

Stuart Rayner

But many Leeds United fans will not know the half of it. When it comes to their new caretaker manager there are two Allardyces – the reality, and the caricature.

"Big Sam" is the latter, a bear of a man with a Midlands accent tinged with Lancastrian who likes a pint (of wine) or three. Big Sam kicked centre-forwards for a living before hoofing Bolton Wanderers into Europe and leading Premier League clubs down route one to safety. He roams a footballing Jurassic Park waiting for the phone to ring from a club in need or failing that, TalkSport.

The bloke in the away dugout at Manchester City on Saturday is a budding amateur scientist disguised in a touchline jacket, not a lab coat.

Dr Mark Nesti, former associate professor of sports psychology at Leeds Beckett University, York St John University and Liverpool John Moores, was a part-time sports psychologist under Allardyce at Bolton Wanderers and Newcastle United.

"I've worked with 19 Premier League managers and he's the top, maybe with one or two others, for flexibility whilst being very clear about his plan," he says. "You might say, 'You can't be both' but the best teams and managers are.

"He's an artist and a pragmatist.

"If you're 6ft 3in with a gruff voice and a very traditional British approach to the game – at first glance – people are dismissive.

"At Bolton, where I was very lucky to be an academic allowed in the building, he encouraged us. I think we had the biggest group of people at that time with masters degrees and PhDs in sports science and sports psychology in world football – lots of young people who had physiology, biomechanics and in my case a sports psychology background.

"You can say what the hell does that mean? It means he's incredibly radical and courageous. Sam created this fantastic identity of the best of science and the best of intuition.

"He has a subtle understanding of the application of science and psychology in football way beyond many academics I worked with, a great appreciation of the different cultures, religious and spiritual needs of players. A lot of his players were interested in things he didn't really understand so he was humble enough to bring in people who did.

"He wants one identity made up of all the cultures, religious and spiritual world views in a Premier League squad whilst retaining their uniqueness. It was diversity before it became politically correct."

It was not a case of Allardyce bussing academics in and leaving them get on with it, either.

"He was massively involved," says Dr Nesti. "It was unbelievably heated – everybody had an opinion. After all the opinions were expressed, everyone had to come together.

"We had eight away days a year in a hotel, 30 or 40 of us – football people and non-football – arguing and sharing ideas. It was science meets footballing reality.

"Everything was tested on, 'How do we get points on Saturday?' If somebody was not prepared to remember that, you're out. He wants people who smell of football and understand it's not a research institute.

"He was ruthless, the final arbiter, but he allowed people who then would never be allowed in alongside people who would ask, 'How many games did you play?'

"The universities would be saying, 'Why aren't you in there telling these idiots that have half an O-Level what to do?' but they had lived it."

When the ex-Isthmian League player and semi-pro in Liverpool began working with Bolton around 2002 embracing such ideas was bold in insular British football. Allardyce’s eyes were opened playing for Tampa Bay Rowdies in 1983.

"Sports psychologists in football didn't start to boom until 2010, 2011," argues Dr Nesti, "but he mentioned on a number of occasions (sports science) prolonged his career because he could see people around him having two, three extra years.

"The Americans go too scientific possibly but I think he saw in the UK the division between researchers, academics and the real world was just too great.

"In a field like psychology if you're going to sit down with players, to have any credibility when you've not played at that level, you need the manager literally behind you. It was crucial until you won your own battles they knew he thought psychology was important."

Having said all that, Dr Nesti does not think a heavy scientific approach is the answer with only four games – Newcastle United, West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur too – to keep Leeds in the Premier League.

Allardyce was pleased to discover Leeds already have a sports psychologist but now they have two.

"In developing the selfless spirit, a strong identity where they're really clear of what they're doing, psychology will be the key," says Dr Nesti.

"I don't think we should be wheeled in, this is the coaches. They are 90 per cent psychologists, we're for the long-term work.

"Those players are not that far away from being a successful team so they need to build belief and need to hear it from somebody absolutely credible, not somebody who sounds like they're reading it from a book.

"Particularly when you're in trouble, you trust people, not ideas."