Background
He is the son of former player and current manager, Sam Allardyce.
He is the son of former player and current manager, Sam Allardyce.
He was the manager of non-League club Turton from 2007 to 2009. Playing career
Allardyce had a journeyman career, playing for eleven clubs in seven years. Allardyce started his career in 1993 with Preston North End and left the club in 1994, to join Macclesfield Town.
In 1994, Allardyce move to Chinese outfit Guangdong Hongyuan, on 31 July 1994, Allardyce was involved in an on-pitch brawl with Hao Haidong in Guangdong Hongyuan"s league match with Bayi Football Club. This resulted in Allardyce and Hao receiving a half-year ban by Chinese Football Association.
He left China after this incident. Allardyce then returned to England to play for and later a short spell at Northwich Victoria, before moving to Blackpool, where his father Sam was manager until he was sacked in 1996, Sam stayed at the club for three years, playing only once in a league game during the 1995-1996 season.
After he was released by Blackpool in 1997, Allardyce then had short spells at Chorley, Chesterfield, Peterborough United, Welling United and Mansfield Town, before joining Boston United to end his career in 2000. Career as a football agent
After his retirement at 25, Allardyce became a football agent.
Corruption allegations
On 19 September 2006, Allardyce, and his father Sam, were implicated in a British Broadcasting Corporation Panorama documentary for taking "bungs" from agents if they signed certain players.
Two agents, Teni Yerima and Peter Harrison, were secretly filmed, each separately claiming that they had paid Sam Allardyce through Craig. Sam denies ever taking, or asking for, a bung. The final report of the Stevens inquiry, published in June 2007, expressed concerns regarding the involvement of Allardyce in a number of transactions.
"The inquiry remains concerned at the conflict of interest that it believes existed between Craig Allardyce, his father Sam Allardyce – the then manager at Bolton – and the club itself."
Managerial career
In December 2007 Allardyce took on a joint-managerial role of the West Lancashire Football League club Turton.
He left in 2009.