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Allardyce rules out Palace return

Cape Town - Sam Allardyce says he is not ready to make a return to football after Crystal Palace announced the sacking of Frank de Boer.

The former Bolton and West Ham boss saved the Eagles from relegation last season after taking over from Alan Pardew.

He, however, left the club at the end of the season, and said he would be taking a break from the game. 

With Palace dismissing De Boer after just 77 days in charge, they are on the lookout for a new boss, with Roy Hodgson said to be in the frame.

Allardyce said on Monday Night Football: "To make it clear for everybody and to stop the speculation, I spoke to Steve (Parish) late this afternoon and said I wouldn't be ready to come back.

"I made a decision and I wouldn't feel comfortable taking any position as a football manager because I'm enjoying my life at the moment and enjoying watching everyone else deal with the pressures of the Premier League.

"There's certainly huge pressure - more pressure than ever - in the Premier League as we've seen by Frank going so early."

He added: "He didn't offer me the job but asked me what my thoughts were.

"It was a clever question and I told him what I was thinking and that if they were to offer me the job, at this moment in time I wouldn't want to go back.

"I want to wish Palace all the best and I'm obviously very sad after all the hard work that went into last season to rescue the team and achieve 41 points.

"It was a great end to a very difficult start to my tenure at Palace but we finally came through with flying colours. For me, one of the best 10 to 12 days I had was when we beat Chelsea away, Liverpool away and Arsenal at home.

"Without those victories we would have got relegated and I'm glad we secured safety."

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