Sam Allardyce, Leeds and football heritage

Sam Allardyce was presumably in the middle of “doing a Ray Winstone”, which, for those uninitiated, involves retiring to Spain with his wife, lying in a deckchair and soaking up the sun. Happily retired and with the karaoke bar just a short taxi ride away, he was enjoying the views from Casa St James’, a fancy villa on the Costa Blanca purchased with the £4m pay-off he received from Newcastle in 2008, when the phone rang. Now, a return to the north of England beckons, with Allardyce charged with “doing a Steve Evans”, which, for those uninitiated, involves swooping in on a short-term deal to save Leeds United from relegation, not – and Football Daily knows what you were thinking – turning up to Elland Road in a sombrero and beach shorts, even if that does feel oddly appropriate for Big Sam.

Javi Gracia looks certain to be the man to make way, with the news of his imminent sacking softened slightly by a probable reappointment at Watford in a few months’ time. The Spaniard will have lasted only slightly longer than Brian Clough at Leeds, despite a points-per-game ratio to rival the great Don Revie, albeit with a slightly smaller sample size. But the point is, strictly in terms of results, Gracia was not that bad. If Leeds accumulated the 1.25 points per game that Gracia achieved in his nine games through the entire season, they would currently sit 11th, a win shy of the top half. But this is the business end of the season, and as anyone who has watched a Sol Campbell slide tackle knows, momentum can be a powerful thing. The manner of the 4-1 defeat by Bournemouth was obviously too much for the Leeds board to take, and sacking a manager is pretty much the only drastic step a suit can do to arrest a slide with four games remaining.

Leeds fans will be hoping for that ethereal “new manager bounce”, and if anyone bounces, it’s Big Sam. Who else has the audacity to pair Kevin Nolan with Jay-Jay Okocha at Bolton or West Ham’s Carlton Cole with … Kevin Nolan? Who has the innovation to sit down at a fancy restaurant and order a pint of wine, or the rhetoric to begin a video announcing his appointment as England manager with: “Get that smile. I can’t imagine … I can’t imagine why we can’t get that smile.” Just think what those eternal words could do to Patrick Bamford’s confidence. Allardyce bravely fighting off relegation is football heritage. Sorry, Javi. Sorry, fellow relegation candidates Southampton, Everton, Nottingham Forest, and Leicester City. Sorry … um Manchester City (Leeds’ next opponents). Nobody is getting in the way of this narrative.

Join Scott Murray from 8pm BST for hot Premier League MBM coverage of Arsenal 3-2 Chelsea.

“To be very clear, it is our moral and legal obligation not to undersell the Fifa Women’s World Cup. Therefore, should the offers continue not to be fair, we will be forced not to broadcast the Fifa Women’s World Cup into the ‘big five’ European countries” – Gianni Infantino, overlord of an organisation that recently trousered a cool $7.5bn of revenue from the past men’s World Cup cycle, threatens broadcasters that a TV blackout of this year’s tournament is on the cards in Europe unless they stump up more readies.

Further to Marcio Aquino on player refunds for sub-par performances (Friday’s Football Daily letters), why not take this further? Every time a team a fails to win, the players’ win bonuses are divided among the paying fans, rather than staying in the owners’ bank account. With modern e-tickets, this must be possible” – Mark Blunden.

Before Chelsea again makes fools of themselves at Arsenal, might it be a good time to remind everyone that the Blues are level on points with … Plucky Little Bournemouth?” – JJ Zucal.

Send your letters to [email protected]. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Mark Blunden.

A fan wielding a chainsaw is among 66 people arrested during riots at the CAF Champions League match between Esperance and JS Kabylie in Tunis. Esperance progressed to the semi-finals with a 2-1 aggregate win. The incident comes days after a supporter died in a crush outside the ground before Raja Casablanca’s quarter-final defeat at home to Al-Ahly.

Wolfsburg will face Barcelona in the Women’s Big Cup final, a 120th-minute winner from Pauline Bremer dumping Arsenal out 5-4 on aggregate in front of 60,000 fans in north London. “We made it to the [Big Cup] semi-final and lost by the tiniest of margins,” sighed Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall. “With all the injuries we have, with all the challenges we have, I am incredibly proud.”

Everton are still mired in the Premier League relegation zone, with Leicester just clear of them after an entertaining and slightly shambolic 2-2 draw.

Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp expects to be punished for his behaviour on the touchline during their 4-3 win over Tottenham, as well as for his post-match comments about ref Paul Tierney. “The whole situation shouldn’t have happened at all,” he parped. “It was out of emotion, out of anger. That’s why I celebrated the way I celebrated. I couldn’t get close to the fourth official and I didn’t want to get close to the fourth official, and then I pulled my muscle. I tried to calm down, it didn’t work.”

West Ham are hopeful Kurt Zouma will not miss the rest of the season with the knacked ankle ligaments he suffered in the 4-3 defeat at Crystal Palace.

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou believes his flamin’ experience has been unfairly undermined by Rangers’ Michael Beale, after the latter claimed the Australian was a “lucky man” in relation to the transfer kitty at his disposal. “It didn’t annoy me, it doesn’t motivate me, but I think people use that kind of language deliberately,” sniffed Postecoglou in the aftermath of Celtic’s 1-0 Scottish Cup semi-final win. “I would never use that language about somebody in my position. I’m not sure which bit is ‘lucky’ … I’ve worked 25 years of coaching to be entrusted at a club like this. This isn’t my first job. If it was my first job maybe I’d be lucky but it’s not, it’s 25 years of hard work.”

In the Football League, Plymouth Argyle and Ipswich Town have both been promoted to the Championship, while Wigan are back down to the third tier, where they will be joined by Reading or Huddersfield and Steve Evans’s newly-promoted Stevenage.

And Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness has joined Jeff Stelling in leaving the broadcaster after a lengthy tenure. “I think I owe a hundred apologies,” growled Souness. “I think people at home want to see us not always agree, but it has been great and I am among friends.”

“I want to share with the world what Ukrainian people are feeling.” Andriy Shevchenko talks to Donald McRae.

Manchester United are being hawked to prospective suitors as if they were a piece of knock-off jewellery, laments Jonathan Liew.

Jonathan also waxes lyrical about the wider significance of Arsenal’s sold-out Women’s Big Cup defeat against Wolfsburg.

Get your water-cooler discussion going with 10 talking points from the weekend’s Premier League action and the latest key WSL issues.

Will Unwin explains how Trent Alexander-Arnold’s latest Liverpool role causes agreeable chaos in attack and unwanted chaos in the Reds’ defence. And talking of the man himself, here he is – not Will – getting his lengthy chat on with Michael Segalov about his work to support former academy players who haven’t broken through to the professional game.

Nicky Bandini on how Napoli got a bit ahead of themselves when their pre-planned title party was pooped by Salernitana.

José Bordalás has answered Getafe’s call and returned to bring “balls, blood and mentality” to their relegation battle, reports Sid Lowe.

Meanwhile, in the Bundesliga relegation dogfight, Stuttgart and Schalke are suddenly up for it, writes Andy Brassell.

And Adam White has Coupe de France final news and the latest around Ligue 1.

A trip back to April 1995, as Tottenham’s Teddy Sheringham poses in a cowboy outfit – obviously – two days before their FA Cup semi-final against Everton at Elland Road. The Spurs gunslinger won a penalty but that’s as good as it got as they went down 4-1 to the Toffees, who would win the final at Wembley by beating Manchester United.