YOU have to hand it to Freddy Shepherd. For years, the Newcastle chairman has been promising his club's supporters a big-name manager, only to let them down with his chosen recruit.

Sir Bobby Robson was the nearest he came to living up to his promise, although the size of the former England manager's reputation didn't really add up to the sum of what he achieved on Tyneside, and despite his previous achievements as a player, Glenn Roeder wasn't even a household name in his own household when he took over as the club's permanent boss.

So when Roeder's resignation presented him with a brand new challenge earlier this month, Shepherd decided on an inspired change of tack.

Forget the chase for a big-name manager, why not take the process to its logical extreme and appoint a manager whose first name really is "Big"?

Let's face it, when it comes to names, they don't come any bigger than Big Sam.

So when Newcastle's new manager was officially unveiled at St James' Park yesterday, size was the only thing that mattered.

Newcastle were described as a "big club". The job of Magpies' manager was agreed to be a "big one". And there, adding credence to the countless claims of magnitude, was no less than Big Sam.

Not Sam - Big Sam.

Surely, Shepherd seemed to be saying, no-one can accuse us of lacking ambition when our manager is the biggest in the land.

And big is exactly what Allardyce was.

Not big in a Jan Molby - couldn't really fit through the revolving door at the front of the airport - way. But big as in the Mr Bigs who used to run the New York mafia.

Big as in powerful, influential and important. Big as in "I'm going to come in here and get things done". And big as in "One word from you Kieron Dyer and you'll be packed off to Tottenham quicker than I can say 'It's tai chi at ten tomorrow morning so bring your own jumpsuit'".

Bigger, certainly, than Big Phil Scolari who I observed at close quarters at the World Cup last summer.

Scolari's moustache couldn't have been much bigger, but his demeanour and personality seemed to be at odds with his moniker.

'Surprisingly small Scolari" would have been more appropriate for a man who was like a rabbit in the headlights when faced with an English press corps desperate for some scandal on Cristiano Ronaldo.

Allardyce, on the other hand, simply oozed bigness, and if that's not a word, it will be once he publishes his autobiography.

Whereas Roeder and Graeme Souness had seemed almost apologetic sitting on the St James' Park stage, Big Sam positively revelled in the limelight generated by his appointment.

True, he hadn't had to fight his way through banner-wielding fans to make his way into the ground - Michael Owen was welcomed by 20,000 well-wishers, Allardyce got two autograph hunters, a parking attendant and a couple of workmen cleaning out the bins - but his maiden address ticked all of the boxes that Newcastle supporters would want to hear.

How does it feel to be Newcastle boss? Fantastic. What are your hopes for next season? To win a trophy. Can a club like Newcastle break into the top four? Unquestionably.

Routine answers to routine questions, but it was what he went on to say that confirmed his potential to eclipse his predecessors.

"I want to change the entire outlook of this football club," he explained.

"I have to get the club stable and move it forward slowly, but the right culture must be in place to make sure that happens.

"I have to grow everything, from the scouting network and the backroom staff to the playing squad.

" I do things differently because I rely on expertise in different areas to make sure the players are 100 per cent capable of delivering what they're expected to.

"That's the only way I can give the Newcastle supporters the success they deserve. It's a big job, but I'm sure that I'm capable of doing it."

And so we left with that word ringing in our ears once again.

Big club, big job, big Sam. Now if only a big trophy would come along, the story really would be complete.