SAM Allardyce - once sacked by West Brom - will hold his head high when he returns to the Hawthorns on Sunday.

"It was an experience - and a bitter one," the Wanderers' boss recalled of his dismissal, "and I was out of the game for 18 months.

"But I've long since proved my worth."

Allardyce, born in Dudley just down the road from the Hawthorns, was given his first coaching role when he teamed up with Albion boss Brian Talbot in 1989.

"I was doing a bit of unofficial coaching at Preston before then but it was at West Brom where it all started," he recalls.

"I was reserve team coach then I was promoted to first team coach and three months later I was sacked."

A shock defeat by Woking in the FA Cup when Tim Buzaglo famously scored a giant-killing hat-trick spelt the end for Allardyce and Talbot in 1991.

Management spells at Limerick and Blackpool ("I battled back the hard way!) brought the former Burnden Park