Allardyce started his career as a player-manager at Limerick - he went on to manage clubs such as Bolton, West Ham, Sunderland and Palace and is now at Everton

Sam Allardyce still has them somewhere: the rejection letters from Kidderminster Harriers, Telford United and Tamworth. “If a job came up, anywhere, I would apply for it,” he says. “My wife, Lynne, typed out all these job applications for me. Most of them, I didn’t even get a reply.”

He is sitting in his office at Everton’s training ground — the final stop, he is sure, in a managerial career that has surpassed his every expectation since those days when Lynne was typing out begging letters on his behalf. Today’s match against West Bromwich Albion at Goodison Park will be his 1,000th as a manager in English football — including, of course, that solitary game in charge of the national team. That, too, was supposed