Monday 11 September 2017 22:22, UK
Sam Allardyce has ruled himself out of the running for a return to Crystal Palace following Frank de Boer's sacking.
Earlier on Monday, Palace sacked Frank de Boer after just 77 days as manager, with Roy Hodgson set to replace him at Selhurst Park, according to Sky sources.
Hodgson will not face any competition for the job from Allardyce, who revealed on Monday Night Football that he spoke to chairman Steve Parish on Monday afternoon.
"To make it clear for everybody and to stop the speculation, I spoke to Steve late this afternoon and said I wouldn't be ready to come back," the former Palace boss told MNF.
"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."
De Boer succeeded Allardyce in June but lost all four of his Premier League games without scoring - the worst start of any top-flight club in 93 years.
Allardyce's reign at Selhurst Park also started in difficult circumstances with the former England manager suffering four defeats from his opening five games.
However, the 62-year-old turned around Palace's fortunes, lifting them from 17th to 14th to keep the club in the Premier League.
Despite that success, Allardyce won't be making a return, saying he's enjoying his time away from football.
Allardyce said "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."
