Mail Football Editor Ian Ladyman told ex-elite referee Mark Clattenburg about a particularly exceptional exchange he had with former Premier League manager Sam Allardyce on the latest episode of the Whistleblowers podcast.
Ladyman revealed he had a tense phone call with ‘Big’ Sam Allardyce during the former Bolton, Newcastle and West Ham boss’s early days at Notts County in the late nineties.
Allardyce won the Third Division with Notts County in 1998, which led to him being offered the chance to manage relative giants Bolton in the Championship a year later.
‘Sam is friend of mine. When I first met him, I was working for a local newspaper’, Ladyman said.
‘He was the manager of Notts County, and it was my job to cover the club. They had taken a player on trial who had just come back to football after failing a drugs test.
‘Twenty years ago, that was very rare. So, I rang Sam and told him I was going to write a story.
‘Sam said I could write the story – but told me not to mention the drugs ban. I am like, Sam, that is the only reason the story is interesting.
‘The fact your signing Joe Bloggs doesn’t matter – we have got to mention the drugs ban. He said, you do that – and I will kick your f***ing door down.
‘I had only just arrived in Nottingham and was living in a hotel – so I replied, you’re not going to be able to do that Sam.
‘He said: I will come to that hotel and kick every door down until I find yours.’
Whistleblowers is a brand-new football podcast, brought to you by The Mail in association with Wickes TradePro.
From what really goes on in the referee’s room, to how clubs spin crises and who’s pulling the strings behind the scenes – Whistleblowers brings the inside stories only those at the heart of the game can tell.
Co-host Mark Clattenburg shared his affection for Sam Allardyce and what it was like referring his ‘big character’ in the dugout.
‘I used to love Big Sam as a coach’, the official said.
‘I miss his character. At Bolton, he used to abuse me and the fourth official all the time and I used to ask him why and he would say – just to get the crowd going.
‘I remember one time – we had a big bar bill at St George’s Park. West Ham had been playing Aston Villa. It was worth a large sum of money.
‘I went to Big Sam and Neil McDonald and said, my God – that bar bill was huge last night.
‘They said the club would be launching an investigation and somebody would be sacked. I asked why – they told me they wanted to find out who’d had the coffee.’
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