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Big Sam. Chances are, if you are up at this time and reading this, those two words have already conjured up a number of pre-conceived notions. 

You'll probably be thinking of a certain style of, shall we say, agricultural football. If you are a Bolton fan you're probably having a quiet, poignant moment remembering better times. If you are a Newcastle fan, you're probably not. One image that is likely to be lodged in your brain, though, is of a granite-forged jaw furiously chewing.

Chances are, Sam Allardyce is going to need that tough chin as he absorbs the blows that inevitably seem to come with his new job as boss of winless Sunderland. Survival expert? Big Sam better be.

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Jurgen Klopp. Not since Jose Mourinho rocked up at Stamford Bridge with his Champions League winners medal and declared himself to be a 'Special One' has such enthusiasm and curiosity greeted a managerial appointment.

There was no such self-aggrandising from the new Liverpool boss. He's got his own collection of winners' medals, of course, but claims he remains just some average fella from the Black Forest. He probably doesn't own many leather-bound books and his apartment, in all likelihood, doesn't smell of rich mahogany.

Well, he might consider himself the 'Normal One' but youtry telling Liverpool fans he's not a big deal.

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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Today is something of a tale of two managers. Two newly-appointed managers to be precise, thrust into differing situations. One is an in-vogue, stylish German, rocking up on Merseyside with his foot firmly on the throttle. The other; a gruff, well-travelled and much-maligned West Midlander, parachuted into Wearside to perform a desperate salvage job.

Today, this football odd couple take the first step on their new respective paths. Only time will tell if it is to be a season of light, or a season of darkness for the two of them.