McCarthy backs Allardyce for England

Former Ireland manager Mick McCarthy has likened Sam Allardyce to Theresa May and says the Sunderland boss should be given the England job.

The Football Association are set to speak the 61-year-old about the England job, which has been vacant following Roy Hodgson's resignation following the Euro 2016 defeat to Iceland on 28 June.

Ipswich boss McCarthy, who managed Ireland between 1996 and 2002, says Big Sam or Hull City's Steve Bruce would be a perfect fit for England.

Allardyce has led Notts County, Bolton and West Ham to promotion during a 25-year managerial career, and last year kept Sunderland in the Premier League.

Bruce has led both Birmingham and Hull to the Premier League on two separate occasions, and took the Tigers to the FA Cup final in 2014.

"Somebody has just got the prime minister's job who just gets the job done. As she keeps saying, she just gets on with it and gets it done," he told the East Anglian Daily Times.

"That's a bit like Sam and Steve [Bruce] and a few more of us that are much maligned, I think, at times in these supposed modern and different days, the way people speak differently about it.

"Sam's just been excellent, I think. I don't know how many things he's won. Promotions, stays in the league. He gets the best out of people.

"Somebody wants to write a CV for him. What's his CV? He gets players for not a lot, he gets the best out of them and generally they get promoted, stay up or upset the apple cart with everybody else. He just gets the best out of people. Surely that's got to be the remit of any manager.

"They've tried numerous other options, haven't they and gone away from [them]. Sometimes Sam has been tagged with the long ball and how he plays. But for me it's about winning games.

"I'd imagine that the better players Sam's got the better football he'll play. And if he can get the best out of them, why not? The same applies to Brucey as well."