Sam Allardyce

I think that me and Cammy were fighting way back in the early days to be managers.

He was at Bradford and I kept him in a job when I lost against Blackpool at Blackpool.

So it was tough in those days, making your way.

And, of course, when you've finally achieved all what you want to achieve, you sit back and reflect and then say, if it's going to be again, it has to be in the right terms, the right frame of mind, and the right onus to guide a football club to success.

Because you see too many onus today...

almost it becomes an obstructive partnership between the manager and the owner to get where you want to go.

It's particularly in the Premier League because there's that many influential people now in the game that the distance between you and the owner is greater with the amount of people you have to work with in between.

and you wonder where the messages are going and where you get to.

So it can really restrict a manager, even down to his players today.

I'm not so sure a manager actually buys the players anymore.

Certainly there's big influences.

My last club, Everton, there were big influences that you had to take into consideration and come to the right decision.

I'm not saying that's right or wrong.

What I am saying, if it's right, that's fine.

If it's wrong...

then the recruitment becomes a disaster, but you pay the penalty.

Nobody else.

You get the sack.

And if part of those recruitment policies have not been your tick, then you fall foul to the fact that you're working with some players that you've considered not to be good enough.

And that is a big pressure on you as a manager today.