Why Allardyce’s Bolton was the performance talent factory

THE list of backroom staff who worked under Sam Allardyce at Bolton Wanderers reads like a who’s who of football performance.

You’ve got Mike Forde, their Performance Director from 1998 to 2007, who went on to become Director of Football Operations at Chelsea and is now Executive Chairman of consultancy Sportsology; Brian Prestidge, the Head of Performance Analysis, who is now Director of Insights and Decision Technology for Manchester City; and Damien Roden, fitness coach from 2003 to 2007, who is now Director of Performance at Anderlecht.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. At the bottom of this article are the names of 13 prominent practitioners who had their formative years at Bolton under Allardyce from 1999 to 2007 (apologies to anyone we've inadvertently missed out).

“Sam wasn’t afraid to surround himself with people who knew more than he did in their own area of expertise," the ex striker told TGG. "He wanted the best people around him to help him succeed and empowered them to make decisions.

“Cryotherapy, beetroot shots - we were doing all that in 2003, years before they became fashionable. We had heart-rate monitors on for training, our diet was spot on.

“During the international breaks or off-season, our staff were off around the world to find marginal gains - going to Korea, China, Japan, the NFL, NBA, finding out about best practice.

“As a player, who were set targets at the start of the season and after every 10 games you’d sit down with Sam and Mike Forde to go through your stats and see how you were progressing.”

This is all at odds with the popular image of Allardyce as a pints of wine and gravy manager who's out of touch with the modern game. It also goes against his characterisation as a quick-fix Red Adair boss who's brought in to fend off relegation and then dispatched.

The 66-year-old, who was appointed West Brom manager on Wednesday, did his most impressive work during his eight years at Bolton, where he proved himself a long-term strategist and builder of teams both on and off the pitch.

Allardyce had overseen the building of an air-conditioned gym, an array of pools, a 'war room’, where he could plot tactics and hold meetings, several beautiful pitches and one of the first cryogenic chambers in club football.

It’s still there now, built with materials developed by Nasa, although it hasn't been used for years.

This investment and development off the pitch - in terms of both facilities and staff - played a major part in Bolton's success on the field. They qualified for Europe in two of Allardyce's final three seasons (2004/5 and 2006/7) and finished top 10 in the Premier League for four seasons in a row (2003/4 to 2006/7) - a feat matched only by Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea.

Things are very different today, of course, with Bolton currently sitting 15th in League Two. The number of prominent practitioners who had their formative years at Bolton serves as permanent testimony to Allardyce's pioneering work at the club though.