Sam Allardyce has come up with his daftest plan yet to try and escape relegation

Sam Allardyce may seem like someone from a different football era.

He is a bit gruff, he doesn't always play the media game, his football is not always the easiest on the eye, and he rubs people up the wrong way all the time. But his style can be effective, and just last night he saw Jermaine Defoe nab a hat-trick in Sunderland's 4-2 win over Swansea to east their relegation fears. So we're not quite sure the man known as 'Big Sam' has such short sight that he thinks turning to mind-bender Derren Brown can help the club stay away from the threat of relegation. Brown is well known for his TV shows that appear to show him exhibiting amazing powers of mind control. This week he featured in a show called 'Pushed to the Edge' and Allardyce admits he'd like to see  if the mentalist could work a miracle at the Stadium of Light,

"Personally I'd love to to pay Derren Brown a lot of money to come and talk to my lads, because I think he could do them a lot of good." I love Derren Brown, he's unbelievable how he manipulates and makes people perform by suggesting certain words is out of this world."

The question is, could he do it on a cold Tuesday night at Stoke?