The less said about Sam Allardyce’s time at Leeds United, the better.
Big Sam entered the 2022/23 season with just four games remaining with the daunting task of trying to save Leeds from relegation.
In the end it was too late for Allardyce to make any changes at Elland Road, but in true Allardyce style he made some big calls during that time.
Allardyce has not used Georginia Rutter at all during his time as a Leeds player – remember this is just weeks after Rutter joined Leeds for £35m.
As you can imagine, Leeds fans had no idea why Rutter didn’t play, and now Allardyce has told the Under the Cosh Podcast why he avoided the Frenchman.
Why Sam Allardyce didn’t use Georginio Rutter
Simply put, Allardyce didn’t think Rutter was good enough when he was at Leeds.
“I’d like to ask about Rutter, why didn’t you play Rutter?” Allardyce was upset.
“He wasn’t good enough,” Allardyce said.
“That’s the answer, but he’s just gone to Brighton for £40m,” replied the host.
“I just couldn’t believe they paid that much money for him. He was too young in the circumstances. To come and play in such a young team in the Premier League was a lot,” Allardyce concluded.
Georginio Rutter has had a poor start at Leeds
Georginio Rutter was of course one of Leeds’ better players last season and deserved a big move to Brighton.
But we mustn’t forget how bad Rutter was when he first arrived at Leeds.
He failed to score a single goal that season after arriving from Hoffenheim and looked completely out of sorts.
The reality is, with four games to go, you can’t waste time with a player trying to adjust.
Allardyce may have misjudged Rutter’s overall ability at the time, but you can’t blame him too much for leaving him out for those four games.