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23rd August 2016
11:12am BST

(Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)[/caption]
When he was appointed a lot of England fans feared the worst. For all his use of sports science, Prozone and his army of backroom staff, Allardyce is seen as an old school, tea-cup throwing, Racing Post reading, "we'll be playing four four fucking two" type of boss. The kind of coach who would send his players out into a top international match with the instructions: "Just fucking run about a bit!"
And the trouble with picking old stalwarts like John Terry is that it only serves to reinforce the view that Allardyce is a coach of yesteryear. A man with no new ideas. A man whose first thought when given the biggest job in the country is to bring back a blood and guts, old school defender, who hasn't played for England for four years.
And Allardyce is not a man with no new ideas. He's not nearly as last-century as his public image might appear - but calling up Terry would not help.
John Stones in the future - is John Terry the past? (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)[/caption]
England can now call upon Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Gary Cahill and the big hope for the future, John Stones at centre half.
Should a player with a very limited remaining shelf-life like John Terry stand in the way of the development of a player like Stones? A man being groomed to be at the heart of England's defence for the next decade surely has to be in the team now.
John Terry: He knows how to win (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)[/caption]
We don't want to stray into 'you'll never win anything with kids' territory here, but there are few active players with as much experience as John Terry. He's been playing at the very top of the game for the last 15 years. In that time he's captained the side to four league titles, five FA Cups, the Champions League and the Europa League.
He is a man who knows how to win - and how to help younger players around him keep their heads. Think how useful that kind of battle-hardened know-how would have been when Roy Hodgson's side were running around like headless chickens as the clock ticked down against Iceland.
Remember when Youri Djorkaeff was tearing it up for Bolton? (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)[/caption]
Youri Djorkaeff. Jay Jay Okocha. Stig Tofting. Emerson Thome. Stelios Giannakopoulos. Fernando Hierro. Bruno N'Gotty. Ivan Campo. We could go on.
In the mid 2000s Allardyce set about turning Bolton Wanderers into a regular top ten Premier League outfit - and he did it using a familiar template of revitalising the careers of players who were seen as past their best.
For a few years he was like a one-man AC Milan fitness lab, getting players well into their mid-30s and beyond to perform time and again.
If anyone can get something out of Terry as he approaches retirement, it's Big Sam.
Ricardo Carvalho was the oldest defender in town at Euro 2016 (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)[/caption]
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