SAM ALLARDYCE gets his England career up and running on Sunday night when his Three Lions XI take on Slovakia.
Now, I know what you are thinking: ‘Nothing but a win will do!’ I can almost hear the cries…
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But back up one moment, here’s why you should hope Big Sam‘s England LOSE tonight.
Before you call me mad or unpatriotic, there is method to my madness. And here it is…
The last eight England managers have all won their first game in charge of the Three Lions.
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In fact, to find the last boss to lose his first game in charge of our national team, you have to go back to Sir Alf Ramsey… Perhaps you’ve heard of him.
Ramsey may be the most recent England chief to lose his opening game – back in 1963 – but he is also the only manager in our proud history to ever lift the World Cup trophy, all the way back in 1966.
Since then we’ve endured 30, 40, 50 years of hurt – and that figure doesn’t look like it’s going to stop growing any time soon.
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Roy Hodgson‘s most recent attempts in the 2012 and 2016 European Championships, as well as the 2014 World Cup ended in complete and total disaster.
The 2-1 loss at the hands of Iceland in France this summer was comparable to the group stage embarrassment in Brazil just two years earlier.
And Roy won his first game… A 1-0 victory away to Norway.
England's recent managers and first game results
Roy Hodgson – (W) 1-0 v Norway
Fabio Capello – (W) 2-1 v Switzerland
Steve McClaren – (W) 4-0 v Greece
S-G Eriksson – (W) 3-0 v Spain
Kevin Keegan – (W) 3-1 v Poland
Glenn Hoddle – (W) 3-0 v Moldova
Terry Venables – (W) 1-0 v Denmark
Graham Taylor – (W) 1-0 v Hungary
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It’s a similar story with Fabio Capello, Steve McClaren, Sven-Goran Eriksson, Kevin Keegan, Glenn Hoddle, Terry Venables… I could go on.
Winning their opening game led to nothing but the inevitable – and equally heart-breaking – lack of success.
But our man Sir Alf… He won the World Cup, the ultimate trophy in football, perhaps even in sport as a whole.
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Not to hammer this point home too much, but he lost his debut game as you may recall me pointing out once or twice…
In fact, Ramsey’s boys were thumped 5-2 by France, just weeks after claiming he would lead England to World Cup glory.
Three years later, he’d done just that.
So the way I see it, if England win, brilliant, we all love watching a Three Lions XI win.
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But if they lose? Well, there’s sweet comfort in knowing that Big Sam will be following in the footsteps of Sir Alf Ramsey.
After all, the 2018 World Cup is just under two years away now…
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