Sam Allardyce endured a bumpy helicopter ride into Newcastle for his first day in the St James’ Park cockpit – a sign of things to come as he enters the whirlwind world of Toon football.

Allardyce looked happy just to be on solid ground following a helicopter ride in atrocious weather.

He said: “To be honest, I was terrified. The helicopter won’t be a regular thing. It was raining, and I thought, ‘How long is this going to take?’”