Sam Allardyce today declared that he had placed no pressure on Ravel Morrison to change his agent!
But that brought a retort from sources close to the player asking whether the West Ham boss would bring a legal action against the newspapers who have reported otherwise.
The Observer and the Guardian have both claimed the midfielder was invited to a meeting with agent Mark Curtis- who has links with the manager and several west Ham players – and that pressure had been placed on him by the manager and Kevin Nolan to sign up!
That has led to something of a feud between the two sides with Allardyce claiming “It’s completely unfounded – the rumours or allegations will be made probably by Ravel’s representatives but there’s no truth in the fact that I have sat with Ravel Morrison and tried to press him into signing anything with any agent, never mind mine. It’s his choice and his decision, not mine – unless they ask me.”
Allardyce was asked if Morrison has sought his help in finding a new agent. And he replied: “If he did, I wouldn’t tell you anyway but, no, he didn’t.
“I haven’t had a discussion with Ravel signing with Mark Curtis. The world that revolves around Ravel is quite unique in terms of the publicity he gets, but there we go.”
However, a source close to the player retorted through ClaretandHugh: “If there is no truth in the claims then perhaps Sam should be suing the newspapers responsible for running the stories.
“Sam has had his days in court when he took legal action against former Blackburn Rovers manager Steve Kean for derogatory remarks two years ago.”
Allardyce is believed to have received around £200,000 after Kean and Rovers accepted liability for the disparaging comments made about the Irons boss while his former No 2 was in charge at Ewood Park.
The source added: “And he had also sued former West Ham player Lucas Neil and his agent Peter Harrison in 2007 in a land dispute deal.
“If something has been written that isn’t true then Sam isn’t usually averse to a day in court – so we’ll see!”
