Sam Allardyce to begin England reign against Croatia at Wembley

Former West Ham coach will use 1 September match as preparation for World Cup qualifiers

Mark Ogden
Sunday 24 July 2016 22:35 BST
Comments
Sam Allardyce now knows who his first opponents will be
Sam Allardyce now knows who his first opponents will be (Getty)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Sam Allardyce will begin his reign as England manager with a Wembley friendly against Croatia on 1 September.

The 61-year-old, who resigned his position as Sunderland manager in order to succeed Roy Hodgson last week, is due to launch England's World Cup qualification campaign against Slovakia in Bratislava three days later.

But with the former Bolton, Newcastle, Blackburn and West Ham manager keen to work with his players before competitive action begins, the Football Association have now secured a friendly against the Croatians as preparation for the Slovakia game.

Allardyce, 61, is set to be officially unveiled by the FA at a press conference at St George's Park on Monday morning.

Paul Clement, the Bayern Munich coach, is set to be appointed as a part-time member of Allardyce's backroom team, with Sammy Lee, who replaced Allardyce as Bolton manager in 2007, also due to be handed a role within the coaching set-up.

Hodgson resigned from his role at the end of June following England's defeat to Iceland in Nice in the last sixteen of the European Championship.

Allardyce's appointment last week followed his looking over for the position a decade ago, when Steve McClaren was handed the role of succeeding Sven-Goran Eriksson after the 2006 World Cup.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in