New England manager Sam Allardyce wants to harness the “bitter experience” of Euro 2016 to motivate his players on the road to the World Cup.
Allardyce will go to work immediately on picking up the pieces of the humiliating last-16 exit.
Roy Hodgson’s England won just one of their four matches in France and hit a new nadir in their knockout defeat to Iceland, but 61-year-old Allardyce has vowed to bring a sense of pride back to both the team and the fan-base.
“I think first and foremost it’s about regaining, perhaps, a bit of confidence they have lost after the Euros,” he said in an in-house interview with FATV.
“Let’s get started from day one. Let’s start delivering, gain from the experience that you gained at the Euros.
“It’s a very bitter experience as we all know but that inner drive... players should keep, they should hold it and use it as a positive, say ‘we don’t want to experience that again’.”
Allardyce, who has penned an initial two-year deal and has been tasked by the FA with helping create a strong national identity throughout the age-group sides, also outlined his best attributes for the job.
As well as creating a strong personal bond with his players, Allardyce signalled his intention to surround himself with a backroom team of experts.
No news has yet materialised about any appointments to work alongside the manager, but the recruitment of expertise is an area he prides himself on.
Asked what he would bring to the England job, he said: “Man-management, I think.
“Many, many years accumulating great coaching techniques and, yes, accumulating sports science ideas, which everybody knows has been one of my biggest adventures from 2000-01 when I took Bolton into the Premier League.
“(And) creating a backroom staff that delivers a great service in all areas and departments. You have to manage that, not just manage players but manage staff, to delegate to them and to give confidence to produce the qualities they have which are actually better qualities than me.”
Allardyce, who lost out on the England post to Steve McClaren in 2006, also reflected on the fulfilment of his life’s ambition as a coach.
A year ago he was out of work and at the start of this month he was still plotting a first full season in charge of Sunderland, having masterminded an unlikely survival bid last term.
“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind couple of days I have to say,” he said.
“Of course, you’re often thinking, wondering whether it’s going to be yourself... are they going to choose you this time?
“Certainly for me it was a very nervous occasion, to wait and see who was successful.
“I think I’m the right age with the right experience and hopefully I can pass on a lot of knowledge and experience to the team and the staff that works behind the team.
“For me it’s a privileged position to have now got top of the tree... it couldn’t be any bigger.”