Toasties and Blockbusters: my time with Big Sam and why I hope he saves Leeds

A couple of weeks before the start of the season, the Guardian Football Weekly panel were asked for our most outlandish predictions for the season. Barry Glendenning suggested Liverpool wouldn’t make the top four. Jonathan Wilson thought there was a good chance of Roy Hodgson coming out of retirement and ensuring Crystal Palace’s survival. Philippe Auclair was confident Chelsea would spend half a billion pounds on attacking midfielders, sack Thomas Tuchel and then Graham Potter and bring in Super Frank Lampard to oversee a 100% losing record.

These predictions all seemed far-fetched, but not ridiculous. It was then I argued that in early May Sam Allardyce would claim to be on the same level as Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp while criticising the criminal justice system for not releasing Sammy Lee from jury service to help him try to keep Leeds in the Premier League. Listen back – pretty sure they all made the edit.

I can’t stop thinking about Lee doing jury service. Crouched just next to the foreperson on his haunches, initials stitched into the breast pocket of his little tracksuit, frantically applauding the prosecuting barrister, talking urgently to witnesses, hand over his mouth, before they take the stand. Racing up to the judge to berate him after no verdict is reached.

Allardyce judged the judge: “The judge has left Sammy unemployed because he is on jury service and wouldn’t let him off. I find that to be very, very poor judgment indeed. It’s a real shame because the wee man loves being with me and I love him with me.”

I’m sure he does. In my occasional experience of working with Big Sam, he is great company. A radio show isn’t exactly a football match. He never did a team talk. I can’t class him as the greatest