Sam Allardyce rules out return as Crystal Palace manager after phone call from Steve Parish: 'I'm enjoying my life too much without the pressure'

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Sam Allardyce has ruled out an immediate return to management at Crystal Palace following the sacking of Frank de Boer after a phone call from chairman Steve Parish on Monday.

De Boer failed to secure a point or score a goal in the first four Premier League games, making his reign the shortest in the league's history in terms of games played.

But speaking as a special guest for Sky Sports on Monday Night Football, Allardyce has confirmed that he will not take up the position, feeling that now is not the right time to resume his managerial career.  

Former Crystal Palace boss Sam Allardyce has revealed he spoke to Steve Parish on Monday

Palace sacked Frank de Boer as manager after just 77 days in charge following four defeats

Parish spoke to Allardyce to gauge his opinion on coming back to Palace for another spell

He said: 'Just to make it clear, to stop speculation, I spoke to Steve [Parish] before I got here and I said I wouldn't feel comfortable at this moment in time taking any position as a football manager.

'I'm enjoying my life too much without the pressures of the Premier League. 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. 

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

The Palace chairman made the decision to part company with De Boer following a poor start

Allardyce was asked about the Palace role during his time as a special guest on Sky Sports

De Boer had just four games as manager but defeats by three relegation rivals proved costly

'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.'

The former England boss fears that matters could get worse for the Eagles before they get any better.

Palace host Southampton on Saturday before trips to face Manchester United and Manchester City with Chelsea coming to Selhurst Park on October 14. 

Allardyce added: 'The next four games will be difficult to pull off victories, what will they be like after eight games?' 

Allardyce confirmed that he is happy being outside of football management for the time being

Former England manager Roy Hodgson remains the front-runner for the Selhurst Park vacancy

Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher defended De Boer's playing style claiming it did not lead to many of their conceded goals. 

Lee Chung-yong's individual error led directly to Chris Wood's winner for Burnley at Turf Moor, and Carragher believes De Boer's sacking reflects badly on the club. 

'Playing well but still getting beat is a worrying sign if you're Crystal Palace,' he said. 'If you lose four games, every manager would fear for his job. It was who he lost against, three relegation rivals.'