I’ll own up early on……I hanker for the days of Bobby Robson or that one night in Munich when even Heskey scored!. Thank you Sven. I’ll even go with the 4-1 Holland Euro match. We do have good memories, we just want more

Steve McClaren was a mistake. Fabio Capello was a mistake. Stuart Pearce was a mistake. Roy Hodgson was a mistake. I can’t even go into the stress of watching Roy’s team cope with multiple player swaps each match, when it cried out for consistency. You can argue who should be in the team, but the lack of consistency was a root cause of our demise

On the basis the FA wanted an English Manager; they were not swamped with many candidates and even fewer who have the skill and football experience to be an England Manager, so I can see how they got to Sam. I think Eddie Howe needs a bit more time, Sean Dyche is not as good as Eddie and Alan Pardew would be a bigger disaster than McClaren; so I can accept the FA decision to go with Sam

I know many fans associate Sam Allardyce with phrases like “the long ball” “aggression” “never worked with stars”. I’m not so sure on any of those points and I think some of the antipathy towards him is a lack of understanding

I actually associate Sam with words such as organisation, pragmatism and man management . Taking his last two jobs; Sunderland and West Ham; how do I think he did. Ask a Sunderland fan at the end of the 2015/2016 season if he was any good. I’d guess a lot would be happy with what he did. He kept them up. That was his job. He succeeded. Considering from where he started and the motivation and skill of his squad, it looks impressive. If it was that easy, compare that to how well David Moyes is doing. Allardyce took over West Ham after relegation, got them back to the Premiership and mid table security. I’d say that was a job well done. Not spectacular, but well done.. As we hear more about how West Ham is run, maybe they were right to part. From what I remember (I accept we often only remember the good parts), West Ham were powerful and fairly attractive to watch, but that was not enough for the management team. Maybe today’s relegation battle is actually testament to how hard it is, at a club like West Ham, to be in 12th or 14th each year. To be fair I hated it when opposition goals were always explained away by saying “we gifted them”, so he has work to do

Slovakia; hmmm. We should be beating Slovakia with more to spare than a 94th minute goal. I not sure we could have hoped for more, given the players were effectively they same bunch that drew 0-0 in the Euros. What I was hoping for was some of the Allardyce magic to make ordinary players better within a team; I’m still hoping for that, so I’m not giving up yet

Having Skrtel sent off certainly helped. Slovakia looked lost without him. Kane looked knackered and still looks knackered. Long cross field balls from pace-free Rooney are like drop shots in tennis; you do it because under pressure you’ve run out of ideas. Henderson is so short of international class it’s a wonder how he gets picked. I’m never sure if Sterling will ever take a full back on or if he is told to retain possession, but I still struggle to understand how so many people think he is amazing. He is lazy, struggles with basic technique under pressure and is clearly short of confidence. I hope Pep can cure some of those ills. Cahill looks terrified every time the ball comes to him. We under-estimate the good effect Terry has on him

There are always two issues – who to pick and how to play them.

It will take time for Allardyce to know both parts of that conundrum. We are not blessed with hundreds of good players and fewer world class ones. We have some. I think we need a style. Robson fell into a style because of injury. That is where I thought Allardyce would come into his own. I worry if the reign starts with him saying “it is not for me to say where to play Wayne Rooney”. It is mate, you are the Manager. Pep benched Henry for coming off his wing too early (even though it was a wonder goal). Team, team, team.

OK; next up Malta. if the Scots can score five, the pressure is on; but we need a style