He'll most likely get booed when he comes back which is a bit unfair, because as he has said, we were down on our knees in the Championship when he took over, albeit I give more credit to the owners for putting the club back on a stable footing and investing their own money. The Hull 2-1 win was probably the watershed moment though (sorry SM), winning 2-1 against a 10 man team, and we were absolutely awful in that 2nd half, I was suprised he stayed on for the 14-15 season in hindsight, but the club brought in a new scouting director (Tony Henry who got us Payet, Kouyate and Lanzini to name a few) and an attacking coach to take the club in a new direction.
There were some great moments when he was our manager though, the day we got promoted, calling the Swansea CB Chico a Squealer, and the Van Gaal Dossier Trolling are probably the 3 that stick in my mind the most.
As for the match itself, our wingers will be key because their full-backs in Billy Jones and Van Aanholt are shocking defensively, and well Fat Sam loves to load up in the middle of defence and midfield with his giants and park the bus away from home, so to speak.
Think we'll win 2-1, Defoe will probably nick an early goal with the 1 chance they'll get all day, and we'll score 2 in the 2nd half to come back and win.
