Ex-Sunderland player hated working with Sam Allardyce and was 'amazed' at England appointment

Former Sunderland goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon has expressed his displeasure at working under Sam Allardyce at the Stadium of Light

The Romanian shot-stopper - who also featured for Manchester City, Watford and Nottingham Forest during his career made 49 appearances for Sunderland between 2014 and 2016. The 37-year-old has not played since leaving Turkish club Denizlispor three years ago.

Allardyce was named Sunderland manager in 2015, replacing Dick Advocaat. Sunderland were sat 19th in the Premier League table with three points from their first eight games of the season but were guided to safety before their manager’s eventual departure to manage England.

Pantilimon, however, was not a fan of Allardyce’s work at Sunderland and expressed surprise that the former West Ham and Bolton Wanderers boss was handed the England national team job.

“Honestly, I was not a fan of Sam Allardyce. But, I think now I can say that's just because I didn't understand his culture. Until I worked with him, I never had the chance to work with a British coach or a British manager. I didn't understand his way of playing football; long balls, sitting deep, all of these kinds of things. But even the schedule wasn't for me.

“You know, a day off during the week; that kind of thing wasn't for me. Luckily, for me, I didn't work with him for that long! If you can understand the culture, as soon as possible, then it's quite easy to work with that kind of manager. But if you're a player, coming from abroad, and you start working straight away with someone like him, you're just going to find it difficult. You'll find it strange. It's a different way of playing football, and not really something I understood.

“There's not much else I can say about him, to be honest. It wasn't the best experience for me, really. I remember I wanted to leave Sunderland in the winter transfer window, just after he joined, because we just couldn't strike a relationship, really. In the end, I can't really look back and say I blame him, because in those situations, for me, finding a solution is down to the player.

“You have to find a solution to your problem, because he's the boss, he's got much more responsibility, and is dealing with things that are much bigger than you. It's easy for me to look back like this now, but in those moments, I hated him so much, but now I've grown in maturity, and I understand you're put in a certain position when you take over a club as a manager; you're working hard behind the scenes.

“It's much easier to understand now that I'm older but, like I said, at the time, I couldn't talk with him. I would say I was amazed when he got the England job, to be honest! That's just a completely different style of football for the national team, and having worked with him at Sunderland, I was surprised he got that job. But I'm sure I wasn't the only one who felt that way,” Costel Pantilimon was speaking at the launch of Ladbrokes' Gaffer of all Accas.