Craig Samuel Allardyce (born 9 June 1975) is a retired footballer and a
football agent. He is the son of former player and current manager,
Sam Allardyce
Samuel Allardyce (; born 19 October 1954), colloquially referred to as Big Sam, is an English football manager and former professional player.
Allardyce made 578 league and cup appearances in a 21-year career spent mostly in the Football Lea ...
. He was the manager of
non-League
Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...
club
Turton from 2007 to 2009.
Footballing career
Playing career
Allardyce had a
journeyman
A journeyman, journeywoman, or journeyperson is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that fie ...
career, playing for eleven clubs in seven years.
Allardyce started his career in 1993 with
Preston North End and left the club in 1994, to join
Macclesfield Town
Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was wound-up after a High Court ruling on 16 September 2020.
Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 ...
.
In 1994, Allardyce moved to Chinese outfit
Guangdong Hongyuan. On 31 July 1994, Allardyce was involved in an on-pitch brawl with
Hao Haidong
Hao Haidong (; born 9 May 1970) is a Chinese former international footballer. He currently holds the record for being China's top goalscorer.
As a player he represented Bayi Football Team, Dalian Shide and Sheffield United in a career that saw ...
in Guangdong Hongyuan's league match with
Bayi FC
The Bayi or August First Football Team () or its full name the People's Liberation Army Bayi Football Club () was a football team under the sport branch of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) that played in China's football league system between 19 ...
. This resulted in Allardyce and Hao receiving a half-year ban by the
Chinese Football Association
The Chinese Football Association (CFA) is the governing body for association football, beach soccer and futsal in People's Republic of China (Mainland China). The CFA organizes the men's and women's national teams and administers the country ...
. He left China after this incident.
Allardyce then returned to England to play for a short spell at
Northwich Victoria, before moving to
Blackpool, where his father Sam was manager until he was sacked in 1996. He stayed at the club for three years, playing only once in a league game during the
1995–96 season.
After he was released by Blackpool in 1997, Allardyce then had short spells at
Rushden & Diamonds
Rushden & Diamonds Football Club was an association football club based in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, England. Nicknamed "The Diamonds", the club played at Nene Park. The club's main rivals were county neighbours Kettering Town F.C., Ke ...
,
Chorley,
Chesterfield,
Peterborough United
Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...
,
Welling United
Welling United Football Club is a professional football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The club's first team play in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football.
History
Welling United Foot ...
and
Mansfield Town
Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...
, before joining
Boston United to end his career in 2000.
Career as a football agent
After his retirement at 25, Allardyce became a
football agent.
Corruption allegations
On 19 September 2006, Allardyce, and his father Sam were implicated in a
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
s" (bribes) from agents if they signed certain players. Two agents, Teni Yerima and Peter Harrison, were secretly filmed, each separately saying that they had paid Sam Allardyce through his son. Sam Allardyce denied ever taking or asking for a bribe.
The final report of the
, published in June 2007, expressed concerns regarding the involvement of father and son Allardyce in a number of transactions, however found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, stating: ″The inquiry remains concerned at the conflict of interest that it believes existed between Craig Allardyce, his father Sam Allardyce – the then manager at Bolton – and the club itself.″ In Summary, the Stevens Report stated: "there is no evidence of any irregular payments to club officials or players, and they are identified only as a consequence of the outstanding issues the inquiry has with the agents involved."
.