Former Limerick manager Sam Allardyce must have thought that little in management could shock him. Talked into taking one job by a priest, he has even been sacked by a chairman who was behind bars.
But nothing had prepared him for the night he suffered at Maine Road 10 days ago when his Notts County side, trailing 2-0 from the first leg, lost 7-1 to Manchester City in the Worthington Cup.
"It was the longest three months I have had to sit through," says Allardyce, like a man emerging from a comedy show starring Christian Gross and Kenny Dalglish. "That's what it felt like, three months."
The good news for Allardyce is that Joe Royle's team are the visitors to Meadow Lane in the Second Division today. On the surface it looks a guaranteed three points as City long ago mastered the art of turning crushing victory into humiliating defeat.
In 1961 they lost an FA Cup tie at Luton four days after the initial game had been abandoned with them leading 6-2. More recently they capitulated 1-0 at Huddersfield shortly after demolishing the same team 10-1.
"Winning 1-0 would do for me," says Allardyce. "We have all learned a great lesson and had the kick up the backside we needed. Because of injuries I put out virtually the only 11 players I had, but we still should have gone down fighting."
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)