Allardyce Hits Out At Ashley!

"They can't stand the pressure, their knees buckle, they don't stand strong and they use the easy option to take the pressure off themselves.

"They have to be the strongest ones and often they're the weakest ones.

"They might like the limelight when the success comes but they certainly can't put up with the other side of it, which is really quite volatile now.

"Sixteen years, yes I need a break. But when Saturday comes round, or Friday or Thursday, I'm still lying in bed agitated, still trying to make the decisions I should be making.

"It's addiction. That's the trouble.

"The only decisions I'm making at the moment is whether I have tea, coffee, toast or cornflakes in the morning.

"I hopefully will get another job in the Premier League, with a bit of good fortune. That is sad because somebody else has to come out of a job for me to be considered.

"I know I can be successful because I've done that in the past."

Sadly for Big Sam ... "successful" doesn't include trophies ... because he has never one as a player or manager!

But don't forget his opening line (I never will) when he held court at his first Newcastle United press conference: "I want to be as successful at Newcastle as I was at Bolton".