Sam Allardyce’s 67-day reign as England boss came to an end earlier this week, denying him the opportunity to spectacularly fail at a major international tournament.
As the English FA begin their search for their third permanent manager of 2016, it also emerged Thursday that they’d had to bin 4,000 T-shirts that had been printed for England’s game with Malta on October 8.
To celebrate what would’ve been Big Sam’s first match in charge of England at Wembley, the FA stuck his ‘the journey starts with us pulling together’ quote on the front of the T-shirts and were due to gift them to some of the supporters at the World Cup qualifier. One high-profile undercover Telegraph report later, and that plan is on its arse.
Having heard this news, we decided this was the perfect opportunity to ask SportsJOE readers to produce their own T-shirt designs to celebrate commemorate Allardyce’s short-lived time as England boss.
https://twitter.com/SportsJOE_UK/status/781443218663669760
As is always the case in these situations, you didn’t let us down. Here’s a sample of some of the responses we received.
Right from the off, a strong gravy theme emerged…
https://twitter.com/randallbell/status/781444704282021888
Big Sams Silverware pic.twitter.com/2bsKVTWxLK
— Chris S (@bloatyfloat) September 29, 2016
https://twitter.com/joshuahyman/status/781444278954360832
Some were inspired by the post-dismissal interview Allardyce gave from outside his home on Wednesday morning…
Entrapment pic.twitter.com/gYEj6MbaAD
— Jonny Mackenzie (@Jonny_Mackenzie) September 29, 2016
Others used popular kids TV shows as their inspiration…
— Ronan Hogan (@RonanHogan) September 29, 2016
@prodnose Big Sam's commemorative T-Shirt.#bungle #rainbow #SamAllardyce pic.twitter.com/vKX74llu24
— Gordon Robertson (@gordo_rob) September 29, 2016
For some reason, there was also a reference to Only Fools and Horses
— Simon Bunyard (@Lankysi) September 29, 2016
There was a smug Gary Neville…
https://twitter.com/Matty344/status/781452064950018048
This…
here you go, here's my effort! pic.twitter.com/3AO8TUzDd9
— 𝔸𝕟𝕕𝕪 𝔸𝕪𝕖𝕣𝕤 (@YNWA_Ayersie) September 29, 2016
This…
— Jonny Sharples (@JonnyGabriel) September 29, 2016
And this.
$AM A££ARDYC€ pic.twitter.com/w0jtnfkUzk
— Jim Doherty (@jimjimdoherty) September 29, 2016
Let’s finish on a positive note though. Twitter user @SMiTH_DOSxx was determined to highlight how grateful Adam Lallana – scorer of the only England goal during the Allardyce era – would have been to his former boss.
— Sam (@dosxxgross) September 29, 2016
Will it be Mayo (or the Dubs) 4 Sam? Wooly, Paul Galvin and Conán Doherty preview Saturday’s All-Ireland final replay.