It has been confirmed: Big Sam Allardyce's England dream has instead taken on the form of a nightmare made all the more hideous in its brevity: he has been sacked by the FA following the Telegraph's revelations. Attention will now shift towards the FA's decision on his successor, although Gareth Southgate will take charge of the next four games on a temporary basis.
With the dream now over, let's take a look at some of Sam Allardyce's England stats:
It all means that Allardyce's reign spanned just 67 days: we await with baited breath the David Peace novel. His sole game in charge was a 1-0 win in Slovakia, courtesy of a last-minute Adam Lallana goal. Allardyce can, at least, console himself with a 100% win record. No England manager can come close to this, and the nearest person who has a similar record is David Nugent, who has scored in 100% of his games for England. (He scored in his solitary cap thus far).
Sam Allardyce has lost his job as England manager. No one, though, will ever beat his game winning percentage.
— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) September 27, 2016
To put the length of Big Sam's reign in context:
The 33 Chilean miners trapped in 2010 were underground for 2 days longer than Allardyce was England manager pic.twitter.com/uQJYzZpLn3
— Ben Smith (@BSmith) September 27, 2016
In fact, Allardyce took charge of England's Soccer Aid team more often than he did the national team.
Well surely that now makes Sam Allardyce's position as Soccer Aid manager untenable.
— Joe Wildman (@joewildman) September 27, 2016
He leaves England without having managed them at Wembley, and his side spent a cumulative ten seconds in front across his entire reign.
Another possible quiz question: Name the only England manager who failed to beat a side who finished with eleven men? That'd be Allardyce, as Slovakia finished with ten men in The Game, following a red card for Martin Skrtel.
The Guardian's Barney Ronay has spotted a trend:
Unrelated managerial pattern. 1 Make Wayne Rooney captain 2 Get sacked. He's burning through them these days
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) September 27, 2016
RTE's Conor McMorrow furnished us with some potentially ground-breaking research:
Sam Allardyce appointed on July 22-1st day of Dáil recess. Looks set to lose job 67 days later- day Dáil returns. #uselessinfo
— Conor McMorrow (@ConorMcMorrow) September 27, 2016
Farwell Big Sam. We hardly knew ye.
