WHATEVER pre-match tension he is feeling, Sam Allardyce will manage a smile when he steps off the team coach and strides into The Hawthorns on Saturday.

He always has a spring in his step when he visits West Brom these days and recalls the day he was handed his P45.

It was one of the most bitter experiences of his sporting life and there is still an edge to his voice as he looks back on being thrown on the dole so early in his days in the management business.

But he takes such great delight in the success he went on to achieve that he can now effectively thumb his nose at the people who did him wrong.

"I have a right good smile at them when I see them ... and let them know what they missed!" the Wanderers' boss says self-confidently.

Any sacking hurts but when you feel you have been hard done by, the pain goes deeper and lasts longer and Big Sam has never forgotten or forgiven the Baggies.

It was 12 years ago, Albion had just suffered the humiliation of being knocked out of the FA Cup by non-league Woking - Tim Buzaglo the hat-trick hero - and manager Brian Talbot was unceremoniously sacked.

Few people remember the fact but Allardyce was Talbot's assistant and he went too - even though he had only been in the job a few months after being promoted from looking after Albion's reserves.

"In hindsight I shouldn't have stepped up," he admits. "I only lasted three months but it was a bitter, bitter experience.

"From my point of view it was very much undeserved, considering I was only on a reserve team manager's salary for doing the assistant manager's job.

"But it was so uncomfortable from the start. Brian was odds-on favourite in the Midlands to be the first manager sacked that season.

"The pressure was too much for the pair of us. For three months it was 'Is he going to be sacked this week? It happened continually.

"In the end, the FA Cup game was a perfect opportunity for the board. You could hardly blame them in the end with fans baying for your head but from my point of view I always felt it was undeserved."

West Brom let him down again last weekend when they defied the odds to win 2-1 at Manchester City and lift themselves off the foot of the table.

"Kevin (City boss Keegan) did us a real favour there!" Allardyce said, sarcastically. "But, in fairness, teams in the bottom four were going to start winning matches sooner or later. The four of us had gone so long without winning.

"I was hoping we could be the first team to start putting a run together and it would be nice to think we could make it back to back wins tomorrow, which is something we haven't managed since we beat Villa and Manchester United in September. It doesn't happen very often but when it does it means so much."