ENGLAND - Sam Allardyce has the demeanour of a man who knows his time has come

When Wayne Rooney said he hoped the England manager would ‘bring some of his magic’ to the job Allardyce spluttered with laughter, suggesting there is already a chemistry developing as they prepare to face Slovakia

When Sam Allardyce and his players arrived in Trnava to have their first look at the Stadion Antona Malatinskeho, they found a note pinned to the wall of the dressing room where England’s new manager will give his first team-talk. It was from the kitman of the local club, Spartak Trnava, and a reminder of how the England team, for all the disappointments and intermittent crises, are still revered in many countries. “This is my office,” Martin Bohunichy wrote, making his request for “one jersey of England national team” as a souvenir.

“I think we might be able to oblige,” Allardyce reflected later as he looked ahead to his first match in charge and the sense of pride that was obvious anyway just from the way he walked into his press conference, chest out, shoulders back and smiling an inordinate amount for an England manager.

Deep down, he said, there was the fluttering of butterflies. “There will be nerves,” he admitted. “It’s the same with any new job, there will always be nerves. I will be very nervous early in the day.” More than anything, however, there was the clear impression of a man who felt his time had come, at the age of 61, going into a job that he once suspected would never be his. “The best job for me at this stage of my life, I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

The question for Allardyce is whether he can return England to a position where the country’s supporters also feel proud and that, plainly, is not going to be easy after the calamitous result against Iceland that put the team out of Euro 2016 andbrought Roy Hodgson’s tenure to a juddering halt.

“The nation was proud of the team right until the Iceland defeat,” Allardyce countered. “It was only the Iceland result that turned everyone against them. It was a hugely disappointing result for everyone, and none more so than the players. Everyone involved in England hurt that night but the players hurt more than anyone else. There’s a perception that they don’t hurt but they do. Until that point 2014 to 16 was a fantastic ride for this young team.”

A parallel can be drawn between facing Slovakia, a game Allardyce regards as the hardest England will face in their qualifying programme, and the match in Switzerland two years ago, after the disappointment of the last World Cup – a tournament Wayne Rooney described here as a “disaster”.

England won that game in Basel 2-0 and, two years on, Allardyce’s team looks remarkably similar to one that Roy Hodgson might have picked. The new manager is clearly willing to rely on players who have failed previously and, listening to him speak about Joe Hart, there was no indication whatsoever that Torino’s new on-loan goalkeeper had kept his place only because Fraser Forster and Jack Butland were injured.

When Hart reported for England duty last Monday his future at Manchester City, to use Allardyce’s description, was “up in the air” and an obvious source of concern for the manager. “Then within 24 hours he’d made the decision that he was off to Italy. There was a plane landing for him and I said: ‘Get on it as quick as you can and get back here within 24 hours. It’ll be sorted, it’ll be settled, and you’ll be playing in Italy, a fantastic experience for you and your country.’ It settles him down to play as we know he can and he’s not thinking any longer about what happened in pre-season. It’s sorted.”

Allardyce sounded equally supportive when he was asked about Harry Kane’s selection in attack at a time when the Tottenham striker has started the season slowly. “He’d like to get off the mark, but I’ve also watched all the goals he’s scored in training. OK, it’s only training, but I’ve seen his quality. If Harry doesn’t score, Wayne will …”

Rooney was sitting to Allardyce’s right when that comment was made and the chemistry between manager and captain already seems to be developing. At one point Rooney talked of Allardyce “bringing some of his magic” – a comment that had England’s new manager, wearing a black suit with white socks, spluttering with laughter – and there was a strong response when the inevitable question came around about the player’s best position.

“I’ve seen Wayne play for Manchester United up front, I’ve seen him play in the hole, down the right, the left and central midfield,” Allardyce said. “Does that not give you the credibility of the man and the flexibility of his play? All the managers that he’s had want to find a position to get him on the field. Instead of sulking and saying: ‘I don’t play there, I play there,’ he will do what he needs to play for Manchester United.”

On this occasion Rooney will take the No10 role, in between Raheem Sterling and Adam Lallana, with Kane leading from the front. Picking the team, Allardyce reflected, was an awful lot harder than selecting a side for the Premier League. “It’s been a great week for me, walking into St George’s Park, seeing the lads come in and training with them for the first time,” Allardyce continued. “Hopefully, it goes as well on the pitch as I’ve seen in training because it’s all about what happens on the pitch now.”