Neil Warnock and Ally McCoist agree over Leeds United’s surprise Sam Allardyce decision

Former Leeds United boss Neil Warnock and pundit Ally McCoist have been speaking about Sam Allardyce’s arrival at Elland Road.

Allardyce was appointed until at least the end of the season on Wednesday, replacing Javi Gracia after the Spaniard’s torrid spell in charge. The Whites find themselves just goal difference above the drop zone heading into their last four games, and Allardyce faces a big ask to keep Leeds out of trouble.

The appointment is a controversial one, especially given how far Allardyce’s football is from the styles of recent managers Marcelo Bielsa and Jesse Marsch.

And that controversy was only stirred up by Allardyce himself when he claimed there is ‘nobody ahead’ of him in football, including Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp.

But while many will disagree, McCoist has defended Allardyce, saying: “He’s well within his rights to say that, and I’ve got to say, I think Guardiola’s a genius, I think Arteta’s well on the road to building a fantastic side at Arsenal. However, if I was Leeds, and I was offered one of the three of them to get my team to stay up, it probably would be Sam.”

Elsewhere, former Leeds boss Warnock was asked about the appointment, and he too has defended the decision, saying: “I think sometimes you just need [someone] level-headed really. It didn’t surprise me with Leeds if I’m honest. I thought if I’d got a point on Thursday night they might have rung me on Friday!

“But joking apart, I think it needed a change. I look around everywhere and there’s so much at stake for these teams, isn’t there, financially and everything really. The hierarchy at these clubs make the decisions now and they have to stand by it.

“It didn’t surprise me about Roy [Hodgson] doing well [at Palace] because he knows all the squad there and they’re a really exciting bunch of forward players there, so that didn’t surprise me at all.

“It’s just one of those things: they’re flavour of the month sometimes, the young managers, then the old ones come back, then it goes again to the old managers. You just have to enjoy it while you can and I’ve enjoyed every minute. We’ve had some 4-0 drubbings and things like that but it’s not deterred me from enjoying it and I’m proud of how the lads have responded really.”