page_title: Sam Allardyce
section_title: Blackburn Rovers
hierarchical_section_title: Sam Allardyce / Managerial career / Blackburn Rovers
caption_attribution_description: Top - Sam Allardyce (Blackburn) Middle - Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United)
context_page_description: Samuel Allardyce is an English football manager and former professional player.
  Allardyce made 578 league and cup appearances in a 21-year career spent mostly in the Football League, as well as brief spells in the North American Soccer League and League of Ireland. He was signed by Bolton Wanderers from Dudley Town in 1969 and spent nine years at Bolton, helping the club to win the Second Division title in 1977–78. He spent the 1980s as a journeyman player, spending time with Sunderland, Millwall, Tampa Bay Rowdies, Coventry City, Huddersfield Town, Bolton Wanderers, Preston North End, and West Bromwich Albion. During this time he helped Preston to win promotion out of the Fourth Division in 1986–87.
  Moving into management, he took charge of Irish club Limerick in 1991, leading the club to the League of Ireland First Division title in 1991–92. He returned to England to coach at Preston North End, also serving briefly as caretaker-manager. He took up his first permanent management role in England at Blackpool in July 1994, but was sacked after two years having narrowly failed to achieve promotion.
context_section_description: On 17 December 2008, Allardyce was appointed as manager of Blackburn Rovers on a three-year contract, succeeding Paul Ince who left the club in 19th place with just three wins from 17 games. Allardyce's first game in charge was a 3–0 victory over Stoke City at Ewood Park three days later. This was the first game of a nine-game unbeaten run. He strengthened the team by spending £2 million on Sunderland winger El Hadji Diouf and brought in defender Gaël Givet on loan from Marseille. Allardyce finished his first season in charge with a 0–0 draw with West Bromwich Albion and a final league position of 15th.
  Blackburn were forced to sell talismanic Paraguay striker Roque Santa Cruz to Manchester City and defender Stephen Warnock to Aston Villa for a combined £21.5 million to balance the books. Allardyce was permitted to bring in defensive midfielder Steven Nzonzi from Amiens for £500,000, Croatia international forward Nikola Kalinić from Hajduk Split for £6 million, and Pascal Chimbonda from Tottenham Hotspur for £2.5 million. In the 2009–10 season, Blackburn reached the League Cup semi-final against Aston Villa, but lost over two legs. Blackburn remained mid-table for the duration of the season, and finished tenth with a final day victory away at Aston Villa.
  The club was put up for sale in summer 2010, and Allardyce was offered the job of managing Shabab Al-Ahli Dubai, but could not secure permission to leave Blackburn without paying compensation to the club and so remained in charge at Ewood Park. Allardyce was later sacked by new owners the Venky's on 13 December 2010, with Rovers placed 13th in the league. He was replaced by one of his coaches, Steve Kean, whose agent Jerome Anderson was a highly influential figure with the Venky family.
caption: Allardyce (top) as manager of Blackburn Rovers in 2009
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