‘Stick with us’: 68-year-old manager claims he could have got Everton into Europe if they didn’t sack him

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Sam Allardyce has made a huge claim about his sacking at Everton.

Speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football Podcast, the 68-year-old admitted that he thinks he would have achieved European football for the Toffees if they hadn’t sent him packing in 2018.

Allardyce had kept Crystal Palace in the Premier League before leaving the club and announcing his retirement in 2017, however it was only four months later that he was appointed Everton’s head coach.

Everton sat in 13th place upon his arrival and Allardyce went onto enjoy a seven-game unbeaten run at the start of his tenure before ending the campaign in eighth place.

Despite losing only nine in 52 games on Merseyside, the Toffees’ fans were very unhappy with Allardyce’s style of play as they ended the season ranked 20th for total shots, 19th for shots on target, 17th for shots faced and 16th for passing accuracy in the English top flight.

Allardyce was soon sacked by the club before Marco Silva went onto also gain an eighth place finish the following year, but with an extra five points under his belt.

However, the former England manager has now opened up on his departure from Goodison Park and has claimed he should have been given more time to help pick up European football once again.

“The old stigma at Everton got rid of me in the end,” Allardyce said.

“We only played the way we played because of the quality of players. Over the years, I’m experienced enough to know this is what the players are capable of and this is how we’re going to set out.

“We lost two at home in the entire time we were there, but there’s that word in the press when they start niggling and then the bubble starts getting bigger and bigger. In the end, the fact that the fan reaction is taken by your owners and that was the reason why I got sacked – not by the amount of points I accumulated.

“But they just weren’t brave enough to stick with us. If they had stuck with us I would have them close to Europe.”

Is Big Sam right?

Everton had qualified for the Europa League twice in the four seasons prior to Allardyce’s arrival, so it was arguably already an aim for the club to reach Europe once again under the currently unemployed coach.

While he is correct in saying his results weren’t terrible, the Toffees wanted to be entertained and Allardyce’s style of play could have easily gone south in the following season.

With players such as Yannick Bolasie, Wayne Rooney, Idrissa Gueye and Gylfi Sigurdsson, Everton could have been a very exciting side and fans wanted to see the best out of the squad, which is not what Allardyce’s football allowed.