The Black Cats beat the drop under Sam Allardyce in 2016.

Former Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce has claimed that he felt as if he had “won the league” when he helped the Black Cats to avoid relegation from the Premier League in 2016.

The 70-year-old took charge of his old club in October of the previous year, with the club having narrowly beat the drop under Dick Advocaat months prior. Allardyce then guided Sunderland to a 17th-place finish, two points clear of bitter rivals Newcastle United, who went down alongside Norwich City and Aston Villa.

Survival was sealed on the penultimate day of the campaign, with the Black Cats securing a 3-0 victory over Everton at the Stadium of Light that sparked scenes of jubilant celebration from Allardyce and his squad, and in an interview on the Footy Accumulators No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, the veteran boss described his delight at keeping Sunderland up - as well as highlighting the significance of Jermain Defoe’s electric form at the point of attack.

He said: “I’d played for Sunderland, and I thought it’s too big a club not to have a chat with. They’d escaped relegation two or three times before that, so I met Ellis [Short], and I said I’ll come and do my best but I’ll need your help in the January window. We’ll definitely need a couple of players, which ended up being four.

“That started to make a difference, because the quality of those players made a difference and made a difference to the players already there, and this guy [Jermain Defoe], scored 18 goals in a struggling side. Everybody told me when I got there that he couldn’t play up front on his own, I asked him why, and he said he’s never said that to anybody, and he’s got no problem with it.

“We knew we weren’t playing off him, we knew we were only playing down the side because he loved a channel ball, and he loved to get in the box and that was it. Simple. I love simple football. It’s the best football ever, and this man scored 18.

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“I sorted the defence out. I always talk about clean sheets and how important it is to get back into our shape, and I always hammered that side of it because I knew there was a goal, and that goal was gonna get us more three points, and kept us in the league.

“I think we only finished fourth or fifth from bottom, so even though we had good runs it was a great moment for me that Sunderland fans got to stay up during the last game at home, which was against Everton and we won 3-0. It feels like you’ve won the league. The relief is that big, but Sunderland was a good trip. I was really appreciated by the fans not only as a player, but also as a manager.”

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