Sam Allardyce has done it again: he has preserved his status as never having been relegated from the Premier League with Sunderland's facile 3-0 victory over Everton. Allardyce is quite the fan of vainglory, and we expected him to revel in a hugely successful end to the season with the Black Cats, which has relegated Newcastle with the smug, satisfied smile of their derided former manager looking down upon them. Allardyce certainly did enjoy the occasion, with his joy veering dangerously close to becoming just too much.
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On the lap of honour, Allardyce spotted someone in the crowd, and decided to enjoy himself. Have a look:
Big Sam. pic.twitter.com/hvTO5T7pdX
— Ian Walsh (@walsh_i) May 11, 2016
Sunderland fans once sang about Niall Quinn's disco pants, thankfully Allardyce did not go the whole hog and give them a reason to reimagine the song. Quinn was on punditry duty with Sky, and after the game he, Jamie Carragher and David Jones interviewed Sam Allardyce on the touchline, which ended in Allardyce exquisitely blanking Quinn's offer of a handshake:
All in a night's work for Big Sam.
Here is the extent of the job that Allardyce both faced and fulfilled at Sunderland:
October 2015 - Sunderland 3 points, 8 games. No wins
May 2016 - Sunderland 38 points, 37 games. 9 wins
Big Sam Allardyce. Job done#safc— Francis Keogh (@HonestFrank) May 11, 2016
Congratulations to @SunderlandAFC and well played Big Sam. A job brilliantly done.
— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) May 11, 2016
Whatever anyone thinks of Big Sam he has built teams over the yrs to be hard to play against...played well tonight too.
— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) May 11, 2016
This is justice for when the FA scuppered Big Sam's PowerPoint presentation and he had to rely on print outs.
— Duncan Alexander (@oilysailor) May 11, 2016
When van Aanholt jumped into Allardyce's arms, Big Sam had to fight every Pavlovian urge to eat his player
— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) May 11, 2016
Only one of these men is Sam Allardyce. #safc pic.twitter.com/VLW3qUYqJ4
— Danny Kelly (@dannykellywords) May 11, 2016
And what a job Sam Allardyce has done at Sunderland. Once again he has done exactly the job he was brought to the club to do.
— Phil McNulty (@philmcnulty) May 11, 2016
Fair play to Big Sam. We feel he may have enjoyed sending Newcastle and Rafa Benitez down.
