Sam Allardyce has defended his tenure as Everton manager, telling talkSPORT the decision to sack him was ‘ludicrous’.
The former England boss took over at Goodison Park in November 2017 following a woeful start to the Premier League season under Ronald Koeman, and went on to guide them to an eighth-place finish.
But, despite the upturn in results, Allardyce was sacked at the end of the campaign with the style of football under him heavily criticised by Toffees fans.
Everton have not exactly flourished under Big Sam’s successor, however, with Marco Silva finding himself under pressure just eight months into his reign.
And Allardyce has suggested Everton could have made greater progress under him had the club’s hierarchy ‘held their nerve’ and given him their backing.
Speaking on the Sports Breakfast, he said: “Everybody walks around talking about Sam Allardyce’s style is not good enough, he doesn’t play the right way and so on and so forth and it is a massive problem for me. People believe it. You believe the false lies, the false implications. Football does that – it believes that lie sometimes.
“It is built up by fellow managers, journos who follow on with it and you are never going to get rid of it. The type of football I played at Everton, the fans said it wasn’t good enough and I would say the same – I knew it wasn’t good enough for Everton – but I knew I had to get them in the position where they were safe.
“Then let me build the team, let me spend the next £80m, £100 million on the players that will make Everton much much more fluid, much more creative and go forward and score more goals and hopefully finish better than eighth.
“They talk about my style of football, well Ronald [Koeman] went and they said he played the right style of football. Roberto [Martinez] went, everybody said he played the right style of football, and I went because I didn’t play the right style of football.
“It is about trying to entertain and win, that is the ultimate, but you have to keep winning first to change the things that need to change.
“If I got sacked because my results weren’t good enough at Everton, I accept it but getting sacked when they finish eighth, it is ridiculous. In fact it is ludicrous.”
Everton have won just three of their past 12 league games, and Allardyce believes another managerial change could be imminent.
He added: “If the fans continue to pressure the board, the board will ultimately crack and you may see a change of manager again, particularly if they continue to lose football matches.”