Sam continues his appliance of science

El-Hadji Diouf suggested that Allardyce's departure to Newcastle United from the Reebok Stadium could signal the end of his own three-year stay in Lancashire.

Diouf is renowned as a difficult player to manage and Allardyce, seemingly incapable of entering a room without dominating it, helped to transform the Senegal international into a conformist of Bolton's regimented system.

Many would have expected Diouf, the former Liverpool player who failed to live up to a £10m price-tag during his time at Anfield, to have taken offence to the Allardyce way.

Newcastle's new leader, though, is more than a hard-line disciplinarian. He, according to those to have worked under him, actually cares.

"He did a lot of things for me and that is why I have played better here than I did at Liverpool," said Diouf this week, before going on to to intimate in the same interview that he could depart for pastures new.

His handling of the former Lens forward, along with the way he brought the best out of other ageing world stars like Youri Djorkaeff and Ivan Campo, showed his ability to manage personnel.

Almost eight years at Bolton would have helped to develop that trait, although a similar period of time in the lower leagues would certainly have unearthed the gift.

Before his obsession with ProZone - the computer system that tracks every physical detail of a player during a match - and PowerPoint presentations, Allardyce did not have the finances available to install the technological gadgets.

During his time in charge of Blackpool and Notts County, and before that with Limerick in the Irish League, it was more the old-fashioned way, albeit with a fresh outlook.

After taking over at Meadow Lane in January 1997, with Notts County heading for the old Division Three, there was very little that could have been done to turn things around.

The Magpies had only won five of their fixtures before he succeeded Colin Murphy and Steve Thompson.

By the time the curtain came down on the campaign, 17 points separated them from safety in Division Two.

Allardyce, however, remained focused and without the advantage of expensive training systems and methods he found the old-school approach earned his players' respect.

Gary Strodder was part of Allardyce's County squad and was one of the first to realise the new manager had a different way of doing things, before he left Meadow Lane for Hartlepool United a wiser player.

Even though it was to Strodder's cost initially, the experienced centre-back quickly realised honesty was Allardyce's best policy in the dressing room.

"When Sam first came into the club he inherited me as the captain because the previous managers had given me the armband," said Strodder, having arrived at County following spells with West Brom, West Ham and Lincoln.

"I had known him from his days as assistant manager at West Brom and I had played plenty under him but, overkeen to impress the new man, I was sent off three times and I was stripped of the captaincy.

"The first time I was given a fine, the second time I was told it mustn't happen again and the third meant the captaincy went.

"The way he did things, though, was to get you in his office and deal with it there and then. If he had something to say he would just say it. He was like that with all of us. Everyone respected him because of that and it actually helped me to settle. He said things to my face, or other players' faces, and then it was forgotten about. It was not said to the media, it was all kept in-house, and we all respected that. You don't get that with some managers and players can take offence to that."

Given the huge financial differences between managing ten years ago in the bottom tier of English football and competing in the multi-millionaire world of the Premiership, Allardyce's style has undoubtedly had to change with the times.

Whether a player has required an arm around the shoulder, a blast in his ear or an axing from the first team, he has never had any long-running feud.

"I can honestly say that during the years I have known Sam I have not known anyone who has worked under him that has fallen out with him," said Dennis Pearce, a team-mate of Strodder's in the Notts County team that went on to secure promotion back to Division Two in 1998 with a remarkable 99 points.

"Sam would come out on days out with us, I can remember him playing the occasional cards or golf with us. He would be one of the first there for a night out. All the lads really warmed to that."

Pearce, brought up just a mile away from the Greens Estate in Dudley where Allardyce spent his youth, used to play with the Newcastle manager's nephew, Dean, for Brierly Hill & Dudley District schools side.

"He took me to Notts County from Wolves because he remembered me as a player for the district side," said Pearce. "It turned out to be a great move for me and whether it was me, Steve Finnan (now with Liverpool and 20 at the time), Jermaine Pennant (a teenager who Allardyce sold to Arsenal) or Gary Strodder, we were all treated the same way. Sam was fair and honest."

Having taken in a playing career that took him to 11 clubs, spanning Bolton to Tampa Bay Rowdies on to Ireland with Limerick and back to Lancashire with Preston, Allardyce took snippets from all of his managers and has developed his own style.

In the end, however, he has become very much a trend-setter, rather than a follower.

The fact that Sir Clive Woodward latched on to the idea of ProZone - which helped deliver England the Rugby World Cup - after Allardyce had pioneered the technology highlights that to the core.

But, well before he had the cash clout at Bolton to be able to try such fresh ideas and techniques, Notts County were being given an insight into a new approach to life as professional footballers.

"At a time when there was very much a drinking culture in our game, Sam came in and taught us all things that were a total shock," said Strodder, who along with County's top scorer that year, Gary Jones, moved to Hartlepool in the early months of 1999.

"After that relegation, in the pre-season before we went up as champions, he had us doing eight or nine-mile runs - and they were just to get us warmed up.

"Sam didn't have the huge numbers of staff that are available to him now but he had a fitness coach and he brought in a physio, Roger Cleary, from Lincoln, who was responsible for keeping an eye on our diets. It was all new to us."

Such were the changes, the tradition of going down to the local shopping precinct for a ham and cheese sandwich as a group after training had gone. Allardyce ordered healthy meals to be sent up to the training ground for the moment his players had finished.

"It may sound amazing nowadays but back then it was unheard of," said Strodder, who benefited from the new routine as he regards that season as one of his finest after being named in the PFA divisional team of the year at the age of 32.

"Players these days are given meals straight after matches on the coaches. That all started with us. We must have been one of the first to be getting pasta on the way back to Nottingham on the team bus. I remember thinking 'what's this about?'"

That, though, is exactly what Allardyce is all about. Within 12 months there is likely to be more than 20 members of his backroom staff at Newcastle, all with the same belief: preparation is the key.

Off the field players will be looked after, whether that be ensuring they have baby-sitters or a nearby house to live in. No stone will be left unturned in making sure the whole squad is happy.

On the field, however, Newcastle fans expecting Allardyce to deviate from the direct football that has become his forte can think again.

"It was always well drilled and well organised," said Strodder, now living in Leeds and ready to become a qualified driving instructor next month. "Newcastle fans should not expect anything other than that.

"It was the same at Bolton as it was with us but with different players at a different level. It may be direct but everything is done for a purpose in whatever Sam does.

"Whatever has been worked on the training field is hammered home until it's done precisely that way in a match. That's what he will try to do up there at Newcastle.

"Teams likes Newcastle United, Tottenham, West Ham and Man United all have traditions of playing exciting football. The bottom line is that success is the most important thing of all. However it is achieved."

If there are still Newcastle fans unconvinced, Strodder insists: "Make no mistake Sam Allardyce is a fantastic appointment at St James' Park."