Ex-Leeds United manager's Downing Street joke goes viral after Keir Starmer quits as Prime Minister
Ex-Leeds United boss Sam Allardyce has embraced podcasting and social media since his last job, which brought him to Elland Road and this week his Downing Street gag has gone viral.
Allardyce became known as somewhat of a firefighter in football management, much to his chagrin at times, but it was exactly for that reason that a desperate Leeds United regime turned to the veteran in 2023. Having sacked Javi Gracia, who had in turn replaced the sacked Jesse Marsch, Andrea Radrizzani and his board moved to appoint Allardyce with just four games remaining in the Premier League season. Defeats to Man City, West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur saw them finish 19th in the table and return to the Championship. Allardyce left by mutual consent before 49ers Enterprises completed their takeover of the club and appointed Daniel Farke.
Since the Leeds job Allardyce has gone into podcasting with his own show called No Tippy Tappy Football, on which he has referenced his time at Leeds United on numerous occasions. Speaking after defeat by Aston Villa saw Leeds slip into the relegation zone, sparking speculation over Farke’s job security, Allardyce said: “I watched it, they didn’t play bad. So I think that the fear of Leeds going down again and recent results, has obviously put speculation on him. Sadly, there was speculation on his position when he got promoted. I can’t see any standout players. I can see a good team. Goals are going to be the problem again.”
Allardyce has also embraced social media, with an Instagram account that has just shy of 100k followers. This week, in the wake of Sir Keir Starmer announcing he was to quit as Prime Minister, the ex-Leeds boss posted a photoshopped image of himself at a lectern outside 10 Downing Street with the caption: “Before anyone asks...no.” The post has been liked 97k times and forwarded a further 60k times. Former Leeds attacker Robert Snodgrass, who was Allardyce’s first signing at West Brom , replied: “Just do it until [the] end of this year Gaffa.”