Sam Allardyce Reveals Only Time He Ignored Sir Alex Ferguson Advice on Transfer

Sir Alex Ferguson gave Sam Allardyce a piece of transfer advice that he followed closely but made one exception to in his managerial career.

Allardyce, who has managed a total of 12 teams in England as well as the national team, has always had a strong relationship with the 13-time Premier League winner and with both in retirement, the pair have been spotted in each other's company at games.

Their rapport dates back more than two decades, with Ferguson always on hand to part wisdom in the event that Allardyce needed some.

“Many years of when you want a chat about something – generally our chats are about life, football and enjoying each other’s company," Allardyce said of his friendship with Ferguson while discussing his role in the Sky Bet and the British Heart Foundation 'Every Minute Matters' CPR and defibrillation campaign within grassroots football during an exclusive interview with SPORTbible.

“While we were both in the job we would be talking about difficult things you might be coming across and what opinion he might have to help you. He was always on the end of the phone.

“Of course a man of his experience could point you in a direction that would help you when under particular pressure at a particular time.”

Allardyce picked up the 'Fergie' tactic of "diversifying off the players" and onto himself but there was also one key bit of advice in the transfer market that Ferguson gave to Allardyce.

The 71-year-old pulled off many coups over the years, including moves for the likes of Jay-Jay Okocha, Fernando Hierro and Nicolas Anelka to name just a few when at Bolton.

But as revealed on his No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, Ferguson told Allardyce to "never buy a player after an international competition" as they "normally let you down more than anybody else".

He stuck to that advice but did make an exception in 2014 when he signed Enner Valencia for West Ham in a £12 million move from Pachuca after he scored three goals for Ecuador at the World Cup in Brazil.

"We had an awareness of inflated prices which we couldn’t afford, particularly at Bolton," Allardyce explained on Fergie's transfer rule.

“But at any of the other clubs I was at, I did the same thing. I did sign a couple for West Ham after one World Cup and that was successful, lucky enough for me ,but there can be a time where they play for their country and they can play above their capabilities on a regular basis.

“The adrenaline of the World Cup and the euphoria of playing for their country, gives them an opportunity to play above themselves of probably what their consistent level would be.

“You’ve got to be very careful about that - and the inflated prices of course.”

Valencia, who had a loan spell at Everton played 68 times for West Ham, scoring 10 goals. He joined in the same window as former Arsenal star Alex Song, who signed on loan from Barcelona after playing for Cameroon at the World Cup.

Allardyce listened to Ferguson's advice. Image: Getty

Allardyce reveals job he nearly took

Though he has a strong affinity to United icon Ferguson, Allardyce was very nearly his direct rival as back in 2007 he had agreed to become Manchester City's new manager following a successful interview.

At the time Allardyce had guided Bolton into Europe and left the club with two games of the 2006/07 campaign remaining when they were in fifth place.

He looked to get back in instantly with the City job but after a change of ownership, the late Sven Goran-Eriksson was appointed and Allardyce later took the reins at Newcastle.

“I was the new City manager. I was," Allardyce revealed.

"It was done and dusted and then they sold the club. John Wardle and David Makin from JD Sports were the owners, had the interview and the OK for the job and then they rang to say they had sold the vast majority of shows to Thaksin Shinawatra and his choice would be Sven.

“Who knows where it would have gone from there? I might have been Pep two!

“I got ready to come in and take over and I did a bit of background check of my own of what was happening but yes, nearly but not quite.”

Allardyce is supporting the Every Minute Matters campaign. Image: Sky Bet

Allardyce is no longer in management but he is still passionate about football, particularly the grassroots game in the United Kingdom.

On Wednesday, 'Big Sam' was back at old club Bolton supporting the Every Minute Matters campaign from Sky Bet and the British Heart Foundation by pushing for more CPR knowledge and defibrillation skills for those involved in grassroots.

Though 350,000 people have started learning CPR since the campaign began in May 2024, research conducted concluded that more work still needs to be done to get those involved in grassroots up to speed and confident in applying the key skills.

“We want grassroots football people to come along and do CPR and defibrillator training," Allardyce said on his role in the campaign.

"I’ve been through the course and it’s completely different to what I’ve done in the past because it’s online and on your phone.

“You can practice doing it and answer the questions and you get yourself qualified rather than spending a huge amount of time – giving up your time to go to a course put on somewhere.

“We have to be aware any time, anywhere, that if someone falls down in front of us with a cardiac arrest, we can actually help and try and respond. You’ve got do this course to get over the fear of that and I think that’s very important.

“We’ve had over 330,000 since the campaign started do the training and we want to get that right the way up to half a million or a million if we can. It’ll never be too many people doing the training and having the knowledge to respond.”

Sam Allardyce is spearheading the next phase of Sky Bet and the British Heart Foundation’s pioneering Every Minute Matters campaign with a month-long awareness drive to equip grassroots football clubs with lifesaving CPR and defibrillation skills.