SAM ALLARDYCE revealed club chiefs often pressurise managers to play expensive stars even if they are flops on the pitch.
The West Brom boss said having superstar players on huge salaries makes management much tougher.
Sam Allardyce says board members at clubs put pressure on managers to play big money playersCredit: Reuters
Allardyce said clubs invest such huge amounts in top signings that they are seen as a financial commodity – and it looks bad if they’re dropped because it devalues their worth.
The Baggies boss explained execs want to recoup their outlay through shirt sales, sponsorship and eventually re-selling the player.
But the former England manager has also seen big-name glamour signings coasting and under-achieving because of their fat pay packets.
Speaking on the Harry Redknapp Show podcast, Allardyce, 66, said: “I think since the last transformation, from where they were before to where they are now in terms of the huge amounts of money that clubs can earn, it straight away brings up pound signs in agents’ eyes and players’ eyes.
“And the agents now demand the sort of money that the club has to pay for that player if they want him, which gives him such a massive contract that now it’s very difficult for you as a manager to manage those players.
“You’ve got the responsibility of being able to control and manage that player that is earning so much for the football club.
“And you’ve got to bring the best out of him. You’ve got to make sure that he earns that money, that he’s worth that money, and he becomes an asset for the club and for you as a manager.
“I’ve found that to be more difficult.
FREE BETS: GET OVER £2,000 IN SIGN UP OFFERS HERE
Liverpool boast the most-valuable squad in the Premier League
“The amount of money that is paid to players and just what that means because if you were brave enough to leave them out – and sometimes you had to be brave enough – there’d be big frowns from upstairs about the reduction of the asset, the reduction of what might be the sale of the asset.
“That’s them coming to you and saying ‘we paid a lot of money for him, you’re devaluing him, why’s he not in the first team – is it your fault?’
“I found that much more difficult to manage. I don’t blame them whatsoever. I think that’s quite within their rights.”
But Allardyce said the players often need a kick up the backside by being left out as their egos can make them fail to live up to their billing.
He added: “What I do say is if you’re getting a contract that size you have an obligation to dedicate yourself 24/7 to playing for that football club at the highest possible level, and should use it as a great incentive to play better than you’ve ever played.
“And sometimes you see a little ease off from that – ‘big contract’s been signed, look at me, I’ve got the great big £250,000-a-week’ and you can see a change of attitude, a change of body language.
“You’ve got to look out for this and you’ve got to rectify and deal with it. I find that probably the biggest change in the game.”
⚽ Read our Football live blog for the very latest news from around the grounds
Watch Chelsea fans tease Marcos Alonso with new ‘don’t be slow’ chant as team arrive in Bucharest for Atletico clash
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
