In the near future, Sam Allardyce will take charge of his first games in his dream job of England manager - and it's a far cry from arguably the biggest low point from his career.
The ex-Bolton, Blackburn and Sunderland boss spent six difficult months at Newcastle from May 2007 to January 2008 when he was then sacked after a poor run of results around the Christmas period added to some fan discontent.
Magpies cult hero Nolberto Solano left the club for West Ham during Allardyce's only summer in charge and from what he told Newstalk's Team 33 this week, he wasn't enamoured by Big Sam's approach to the game.
"I had to leave because it wasn't the same philosophy of football. Big Sam, you know the style of football. He likes to go really straight (direct), very much English old-fashioned style," he explained.
"I spoke to him and he told me he couldn't promise me if I would play or not because he would bring his own players. "
Solano also spoke about the management styles of other previous Newcastle bosses like Graeme Souness, Ruud Gullit and Bobby Robson.
Gullit preceded the hugely successful period under the late Robson and while the Dutchman's spell in charge at St James Park is regarded as a failure due to results, Solano's own view was more nuanced.
"He was a very good coach. [But] I believe he was in the transformation of his career because he had just started to be a coach. I remember when he was coaching in Chelsea and when he arrived in Newcastle it was a very tough moment because he had to deal with players like Stuart Pearce, John Barnes, Rob Lee... people like that because he tried to make a lot of changes with the team and use a lot more young lads. But he didn't manage very well the team spirit," he said, adding that he liked the Dutch and Italian mentality Gullit brought.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
