Allardyce has had his chips - and Big Sam loves it

The mural appeared in Dudley last week

Former England manager Sam Allardyce says he loves the giant mural of him eating chips that mysteriously appeared in his home town of Dudley.

Those responsible for the 10ft image had remained a mystery since its debut on a wall last week, with ex West Brom boss Allardyce unable to share any detail on Monday, other than his surprise and praise.

Credit has since been claimed, though, by artist Dion Kitson, whose social media shows Allardyce when he was still a work in painted progress. "This is Dudley's answer to the Sistine Chapel," Kitson said, adding: "Everyone deserves to experience art and celebrate their local heritage."

Dudley is Allardyce's home town, which also does a sideline in the kind of orange chips he is pictured eating, with turmeric or paprika added to batter to give a hue rarely seen outside of a Netherlands home kit.

The mural, which appeared on Union Street last week, depicts him in a suit and tie, perhaps deep in thought over formations, and eating straight from the bag by hand - none of your fork, fork, two.

Allardyce told the BBC he thought orange chips were a particularly deep cut.

He said to Radio WM on Monday morning, when the image was still a mystery: "The only thing I can think is in my day, down in Dudley when I lived there, the local fish and chips shop did battered chips and that might [explain] the orange chips that [the artist has] put on it.

"Now, if that's the case, he's gone really deep on my time in Dudley."

Allardyce wasn't far off in what he surmised.

Kitson, who worked in collaboration with Birmingham artist Adam Wynn, said in a statement: "We wanted to celebrate England's greatest football manager and England's greatest chips.

"Everyone deserves to experience art and celebrate their local heritage, so we took it upon ourselves to make that happen and brighten someone's day in the process.

"We're over the moon that Big Sam approves."

And approve he does.

Allardyce, who was brought up on Old Park Farm estate in the town, said he thought the mural had captured a good likeness of him.

"Obviously I thought it was a very good likeness whoever's created it, and I must admit, it's very, very good in terms of likeness.

"When they said it was 10ft tall, that's some piece of work isn't it?" added Allardyce, whose former clubs also included Blackpool, Notts County, Bolton, Newcastle, Blackburn, West Ham and Sunderland.

Others seemed to have been similarly smitten.

"I've not had as many messages since I was managing last time," Allardyce said, his phone livelier over the weekend than transfer deadline day.

Allardyce said he had no family remaining in the area but happily remembered playing football on a field on his estate which is where he "learnt my trade in the old days".

Now working on a podcast, he said if he was to return to management and it was in the West Midlands, he would pick Wolverhampton Wanderers as he had always been a fan.