Sam Allardyce never missed a trick... he was big on intimidation but also discipline, says former Bolton defender Dean Holden

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The two Bolton overseas stars decided that they’d had enough of Sam Allardyce and his insistence that his players should adhere to a strict diet.

In a plan hatched at a team hotel before an away game, they decided they would skip the bland squad meal of chicken and pasta and order two plates of steak and chips and a couple of bottles of red wine on room service. 

Big Sam, they thought, would be none the wiser.

Sam Allardyce was confirmed as England's new manager on Friday afternoon by the Football Association

Allardyce has left Premier League side Sunderland and will take charge of the Three Lions from now on

All went according to plan. The order was made and soon there was a knock at the door and a cry of ‘Room service’.

Excitedly, they opened it to see a dining tray containing their forbidden food and plonk – delivered by none other than Allardyce.

‘He never missed a trick,’ says Walsall coach Dean Holden, who spent four years under Allardyce at Bolton from 1998-2002. ‘He found out what they were doing and took up their order himself!’

Not long after, Holden would have his own, painful taste of his manager’s authority.

‘I got sent off in the FA Cup quarter-final against Charlton after sticking my forehead too close to John Robinson,’ he remembers. ‘I instantly regretted it. Big Sam came up the tunnel after the game and did the same to me! Then he screamed, "Did you touch him?"

‘I told him I wasn’t sure. He told me I had let my team-mates down and fined me two weeks wages – he wants you to intimidate the opposition but he’s big on discipline.’

That intimidation, says Holden who made more than 400 appearances in a 16-year career, even stretched to the pre-match warm-ups.

‘We arrived at games half an hour before kick-off already stripped and went straight on to the pitch to warm up,’ he says. ‘He used to have us warming up on the same side of the pitch as the opposition!’

Holden, 36, believes his former boss is like no other and remembers Allardyce’s willingness to embrace innovation.

‘I’d broken my leg and we were big on visualisation at the time,’ he adds.

Dean Holden (pictured) spent almost four years under Allardyce at Bolton between 1998 and 2002

Holden was previously manager of Oldham Athletic but is currently a coach at Walsall

‘So (performance director) Mike Forde had me out on the training pitch doing one on one sessions. I’m stood in the full back position communicating, moving my feet and visualising opponents – he saw that as a way of getting me up to speed quicker!’

The broken leg throws up another tale.

‘He visited me in hospital,’ Holden says. 'It was deadline day so I was really pleased he’d made the effort. He brought me a gift, a four pack of Carling, but with only three cans in it - he told me three was enough and not to drink them all at once.’

Former Oldham Athletic captain Holden, whose clubs include Peterborough United, Falkirk and Shrewsbury Town, thinks that England’s players will love playing under his former boss.

‘He takes a keen interest in you and builds a relationship,’ he says.

‘He wants to know what makes you tick, who you support, what your hobbies are and he treats everyone differently.’

Holden believes Allardyce’s ability to create a siege mentality will serve him well at this stage in England’s history and that he will almost be able bring a club team mentality at national level.

‘He will create a club-like mentality where everyone is in it together,’ he says, before closing with a statement that could be music to the ears of every England player and fan.

‘The players will know exactly what is expected of them. They will enjoy working with him because everyone will feel valued. He is an inspirational leader.’

Allardyce is big on intimidation but also on discipline, insists former Bolton defender Holden