Why a 10ft mural of the former football manager Sam Allardyce eating orange, battered chips has appeared in his home town of Dudley is something of a mystery.
The man himself however is chuffed. “Just seen the mural,” he said in a video message to ITV News. “Absolutely privileged to be honest with you, I thought it was a very good likeness.
“Chips look a bit hot, but I really enjoyed seeing it. Whoever did it, thank you very much.”
The mural of the 70-year-old is believed to have been pasted on to a wall near a chip shop in the centre of Dudley on Wednesday. The reaction so far has been mixed.
“It’s a bit odd as it doesn’t have a slogan or any words, but it brightens up the place,” said one man out shopping on Friday.
A local worker, who asked not to be named and admitted he did not know who Big Sam was, described it as “the random-est thing I’ve ever seen”.
He added: “Who is it? It’s just weird, it doesn’t make sense and it needs to go.”
Allardyce, or Big Sam as he was and always will be known to football fans, is used to dividing the crowd.
During his managerial career he became known as a survival specialist, taking charge at Bolton Wanderers, Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers, West Ham, Sunderland, Crystal Palace, Everton, West Bromwich Albion, Leeds United – as well as England for one match.
He was never afraid to say what he thought. As were fans of clubs he managed.
During a miserable 6-0 defeat at Manchester City, West Ham repeatedly chanted “fuck off Sam Allardyce”. In his memoir not long after Allardyce described West Ham fans as “brainwashed” and “deluded”.
He once said he would win the league every year if got to manage a club like Real Madrid. Allardyce joked that the reason he would never manage one of the top four English clubs was because his surname was not Allardici.
For some, the mystery of the new mural will be: who is the artist and why? For others it will be: what the heck are orange chips?
There is a debate over the origin of orange chips – as in chips fried in an orange batter. Some say they have been around since the second world war and rationing. Others claim they date to the 1970s.
What makes the batter orange is often a secret. Some think it might be best not to know.
During lockdown, the Birmingham Mail published an orange chip recipe for people to try at home and the extra ingredients were paprika and orange food colouring.
