New England boss Allardyce will have his side fit for WC 2018
England manager Sam Allardyce intends to improve his side’s fitness
Taking on “the best job in English football,” Sam Allardyce has accepted the job as new manager for the England National Football team. Allardyce already has his eye on upcoming World Cup 2018 glory as he makes plans for victory in the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers. Former Sunderland boss Allardyce was confirmed as former England manager Roy Hodgson's replacement and is making plans to lead the Three Lions to the 2018 World Cup in Russia as the fittest football team on the globe.
Big Sam himself got to his own personal ultimate fitness following a near death heart attack scare. After undergoing heart surgery for a blocked artery, Allardyce quit booze, went on a healthy diet, and went to the gym. He reportedly came close to a potentially-fatal heart attack and increased his self-control to make necessary changes to prevent a recurrance. Allardyce plans to share the knowledge he learned while healing and recovering to improve his health and fitness with his England side, giving them a fitness edge over their competitors. Although the England squad for Euro 2016 was clearly talented and appeared fit enough to win the tournament, they did not play their A-Game in the event and surprisingly lost to minnows Iceland.
Allardyce said he believes England had the players to win Euro 2016 "had they all performed to their best". Sixty-one-year-old Allardyce suffered chest pains when he went to Qatar to watch England’s match against Brazil in 2009 – The Three Lions lost the match 1-0. As a result of the chest pains and exam, Big Sam had angioplasty to be fitted with a tube to widen the clogged artery. After the frightening near-death experience, Allardyce radically changed his lifestyle. Part of the dramatic and healthy choices the former Sunderland, West Ham, and Bolton manager made was to exercise more and make other changes in his life in order to be able to continue to run his pub and fast-food restaurant if he exercised and reduced stress and pressure in his life.
"It certainly had an effect on me,” said Allardyce. “The specialist said it had been building up over the last 10 years and had it not been detected I probably would’ve had a heart attack.” Soon after his surgery, Sam cut down on his boozing, changing from drinking beer to consuming only an occasional glass of red wine. He began going to the gym up to five times a week while wearing a heart monitor to avoid over-exertion. As part of his new disciplined lifestyle, Big Sam stopped eating cheese and chocolate and began to eat only eating a healthy diet based on fruit, cereal, salad, vegetables, pasta, fish and chicken.
"It does take a lot of self-control but by sticking to these changes they will eventually become a habit,” said Sam. “You reach a point where you start to feel guilty if you don’t do these things. I think that’s the sort of mentality you’ve got to adopt.” After regaining his fitness he convinced his wife Lynne, that he was healthy and fit enough to put off his retirement to take on the England managerial job. Allardyce is also perhaps planning to change strategy for England before the World Cup 2018 Qualifiers begin on the Road to Russia.
Superstar striker and team captain for England and Manchester United, Wayne Rooney will be affected by the new Three Lions manager after Sam Allardyce said that new Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho will determine Wayne Rooney's England role. England’s record scorer Rooney, 30, featured both as forward and midfielder under previous England manager Roy Hodgson during Euro 2016. Wayne Rooney has won 115 caps for England, scoring 53 goals.
"I still think Wayne Rooney has a massive place to play in the England side," said Big Sam about Roo. "If Jose says he is not going to play him in center midfield and he is playing up front and scoring goals for Manchester United then it would be pointless me bringing him into England and playing him in center midfield." Rooney will have support at Old Trafford this campaign from forwards Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Anthony Martial.
"I hope there are standout players all over the place when the Premier League starts,” said Big Sam. "I hope it's a hugely difficult task for me to pick my first squad because everybody is on really good form and playing exceptionally well." Allardyce's first game in charge will be a World Cup qualifier against Slovakia on September 4, and Big Sam plans to check with Premier League managers to "hear their thoughts" before choosing his England squad.
"We've got to try and help each other if we possibly can," said Allardyce. "It won't always be the case, the demands on Premier League managers and demand on me as England manager is bound to cause some conflict down the line because the pressures are far greater than ever before. So they are bound to want to protect their players and that is what I have to try and overcome with a little bit of give and take, hopefully."
After signing a two-year deal with the FA, Big Sam said taking England to World Cup 2018 is a "different level" of challenge. "I think that this is a new challenge for me. It's outside of my comfort zone, which is what I like,” added Allardyce. "The challenge of the Premier League is not as big a challenge to me as when I first got there because I've done it for so long. I've managed in there for such a long time that I know I can achieve at that level. I'm ready for this now. After 950 games as a manager there is something you want to change in your life sometimes and this was it for me."
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