Stelios: "Allardyce For England"

Last updated : 15 September 2005 By Matt Bottom
Stelios Giannakopoulos believes Bolton boss Sam Allardyce has all the credentials to be a successful future England manager.

Allardyce has been mentioned as a potential successor to Sven-Goran Eriksson, with his agent last week confirming he would be interested if the opportunity arose.

Giannakopoulos is in no doubt Allardyce would be an excellent choice as he said: "He has all the qualifications and standards to go for the job because he is experienced, clever and knows football so much.

"He is a very strong personality, a good man and everybody in the dressing room respects him a lot. He is the kind of man you can learn a lot from.

"It's also about the way he approaches a player, the way he speaks and acts. It's every detail that makes someone strong or weak, and he is definitely strong, which is the most important thing.

"These are the key points a manager needs to coach at a higher level such as with England.

"He is certainly one of the best managers I have worked with, and I look forward to working with him for the next few years of my contract.

"He is one of the major reasons I stayed at the club, and I am very happy, but we'd be very disappointed to lose him should he be given the chance [with England]."