Okocha Reveals He Adores Playing Under Allardyce

Austin Okocha, the former Super Eagles captain, has spoken about his time as a player with Bolton Wanderers under Sam Allardyce’s management.

Okocha, who in 2002 left Paris Saint-Germaine for the English club where he played the entirety of his Bolton career under Allardyce, Under Allardyce, Okocha achieved massively at the formerly-named Reebok Stadium.

Okocha, the Nigerian international, made more appearances for Bolton than any other club in his playing career. He made 124 appearances. His prowess in 2004/05 was the brain behind Wanderers’ first appearance in the UEFA Cup, taking it from just outside of the relegation zone to qualifying for the tournament.

In an interview with talkSPORT, the sports icon recounted what it was like to play for Allardyce.

He said It took him some time before he understood what Sam’s philosophy was, but once he understood it, it was a bit easier then.

Understudying Sam made Okocha know that he’s not really that kind of long-ball person, but that was all the players he had then. With the players Sam had at this time, he could only play direct football with them because they lacked the wherewithal to out-possess teams like Arsenal, Chelsea, or Man U. He was only playing to his strengths.

But when he started bringing players of better quality into his squad, like Okocha, the game changed, as his new squad started playing a bit more possession football. With this, he kept working on his defensive line.

This made him come out and tell them that whatever they’re bringing to the team, their own ideas should be in the final third and not in their own half. According to Okocha, since

he’s a big lad, the team has to respect his opinion, though it’s always good to know what the managers want from you as a player.

According to Okocha, who commented on his decision to leave PSG for Bolton,

He said, “I will say that it’s obvious that I didn’t really do my research before signing for Bolton.”

As a football person, football comes first, not the city, not the lifestyle, but one thing that’s clear is that the training ground was different, the attitude towards the games was different. ”