Crystal Palace manager Sam Allardyce announced on Tuesday that he will be resigning from his job at the club and plans to draw the curtain on his coaching career of 26 year.
A season that started with Allardyce coaching the England national team, before he moved away after leading the team to just one match, ended with him moving Palace out of Premier League relegation.
The 62-year-old, whose coaching capabilities came to limelight during his eight year reign at Bolton Wanderers, revealed in a statement that his reasons for wanting out of Palace are personal.
”While I’ve got the energy, I want to travel and also spend more time with my family and grandchildren without the huge pressure that comes with being a football manager,” Allardyce said. ”I owe that to my wife and family.
”I have no ambitions to take another job. I simply want to be able to enjoy all the things you cannot really enjoy with the 24/7 demands of managing any football club, let alone one in the Premier League.”
Allardyce took over the reins at Palace in December signing a two-and-a-half-year contract after his short time as England manager.
Three months before he moved to Premier League, his careless comment to some anonymous reporters about unlawful transfer practices made his position with the England national team unsustainable and he was dismissed after 67 days.
However, his move to the Premier League has given his coaching career a boost. He expressed his appreciation to the south London club ”for giving me the opportunity to go out with my head held high having helped keep the club in the Premier League.
”More than that, they gave me a chance of rebuilding my reputation after what happened with England,” he said. ”I felt I needed another shot at being a Premier League manager and showing that I still had the ability to achieve something significant.”
Before he coached the England team, Allardyce had previously coached Sunderland, West Ham, Blackburn, Newcastle and Bolton, where he built a formidable team which included the likes of France’s 1998 World Cup winner Youri Djorkaeff, Nigeria’s Jay-Jay Okocha and former Real Madrid defender Fernando Hierro.
His managerial career began in 1991 as a player-manager with Irish outfit, Limerick, and then moved on to Preston, Blackpool and Notts County.
However, with his announcement on Tuesday, he seems to be at the end of his coaching career
”I want to be able to savor life while I’m still relatively young and when I’m still relatively healthy, even if I’m beginning to feel all my 62 years,” Allardyce said.