Stephen Warnock has claimed that former England and Everton manager Sam Allardyce should be in contention to replace Paul Heckingbottom as Leeds United boss.
Leeds sacked Heckingbottom on Friday and it has been widely reported since that the Yorkshire club are aiming to appoint Marcelo Bielsa as his successor.
However ex-Whites full-back Warnock has backed the experienced Allardyce to succeed Heckingbottom, who has previously won promotion to the Premier League twice via the play-offs with Bolton and West Ham.
“Time to get the right man for Leeds and back him. The Championship is a tough league so constant changes to players and staff won’t help anyone. Who’s everyone wanting? Big Sam surely has to be a contender,” Warnock said on his personal Twitter account on Friday night.
Time to get the right man for @LUFC and back him. The Championship is a tough league so constant changes to players & staff won’t help anyone. Who’s everyone wanting? Big Sam surely has to be a contender. #MOT #LEEDS
— Stephen Warnock???? (@StephenWarnock3) June 1, 2018
OPINION
There’s absolutely no chance that Leeds will look to hire Allardyce. Even though he is a promotion expert of sorts and has a CV that far outweighs previous Leeds managers, his time at Everton has perhaps warranted him a few months out of football. Allardyce is unlikely to take a job that is outside of the Premier League and would only really go to the Championship if he could join one of the teams that are favourites to get promoted. Leeds’ best hope for next season is to achieve a top-six finish or at least look competitive in that area of the table. Bielsa looks as though he will be the man to replace Heckingbottom anyway. The man nicknamed ‘El Loco’ will be a brilliant hire for the Whites given his experience from top clubs across Europe. If there’s a man to lead the Yorkshire giants back to the Premier League, it could be him. As for Allardyce, it’s a complete no-go and hard to see how Warnock’s plucked his name out of thin air.