Leeds United boss Sam Allardyce lashes out over ‘poor judgement’ as ex-Liverpool and Everton coach is denied employment

Sam Allardyce has revealed jury service has prevented long-time assistant Sammy Lee from joining him at Leeds United.

The former Newcastle, Everton and Bolton boss was appointed at Elland Road on Wednesday, as he has been given four games to save the club from relegation.

One big question is why Lee, who has been an assistant to Allardyce at Bolton, England, Crystal Palace, Everton and West Brom, has not joined him.

“The judge has left Sammy unemployed because he’s on jury service and won’t let him off and I find that to be very, very poor judgement indeed,” said Allardyce of Lee, who has also been an assistant at Liverpool and Southampton.

“So, you know, it’s a real shame because the wee man loves being with me, and I love him.”

Allardyce will be joined by Karl Robinson and Robbie Keane at Elland Road as he starts his tenure at the club with a trip to Manchester City on Saturday.

Robinson has been out of work since being sacked by League One side Oxford United earlier this season. He started his coaching career in the Liverpool academy and landed his first head coach role with MK Dons in 2010.

He led the club into the Championship for the first time in 2015 but left shortly after their relegation in 2016.

In May 2016 Leeds approached Robinson to become their new head coach but he tunred the opportunity down, and revealed conversations with Allardyce at the time.

“The Leeds one in 2016 was an interesting story,” Robinson told the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast in March.

“I met them on the Friday. I didn’t sleep on the Friday, I didn’t sleep on the Saturday so something didn’t feel right. Leeds weren’t the Leeds they were today, but they were still Leeds.

“I actually saw Sam Allardyce on the Monday and he said to go and meet them again, so I arranged to meet them and they weren’t there – 10am not there, 10.30am not there – so I phoned Sam and asked what to do, and he said to wait until 11am. Next thing they turned up and the conversation was a little erratic, unstable, and I thought, this isn’t me. It didn’t feel right.

“The fact that it was Leeds, it just wasn’t the right time. I’d just got relegated a few days before with MK Dons, and I felt so guilty for that. My personality meant I had a lot of guilt about that relegation – but then I got sacked by MK Dons two months later!”

Keane is set to join Allardyce and Robinson at Leeds after agreeing a move on Wednesday morning. The striker spent time at Elland Road as a player before joining Tottenham Hotspur.