Big Sam nails colours to England mast - again

Bolton manager Sam Allardyce has no regrets about publicly stating his desire to become England coach.

Allardyce is one of a number of Englishmen who have been touted as a possible replacement for the departing Sven-Goran Eriksson and he has not been slow in championing his own claims.

'I have been quite bold, I suppose, but that's only because I had the okay from the chairman (Phil Gartside),' he said.

'He said he would back me if I wanted to go for it.

'He wouldn't really like me to take it, of course, but he appreciates that it's one of the biggest jobs in the world and I'm at the stage now when I think I'm ready.'

Allardyce also dismissed the pre-conceptions about him being a `long-ball' manager whose tactics are focused on the physical.

'Some people, I suppose, still think of me as a big, ugly centre-half who doesn't know about the finer points of the game. I can't help the way I look,' he told The Daily Telegraph.