 Samuel Allardyce was born in October 1954 in a council house on the Old Park Farm Estate, Dudley, the son of Robert Allardyce (1916 – 1989) and Mary Agnes Allardyce (1918 – 1991). His father was a police sergeant. Both parents originated from Scotland. He has an older sister, Mary, born in Scotland in 1939 and an older brother, Robert junior, born in 1951. Allardyce was educated at Sycamore Green Primary School and later at Mons Hill School, failing his Eleven plus exam. He discovered in later life that he suffers from dyslexia. As a child, he supported Wolverhampton Wanderers and dreamed that one day he would play at and manage the club.
