Allardyce declines to gloat over Newcastle

Sam Allardyce declined the opportunity to revel in the troubles currently afflicting his former club Newcastle after guiding Blackburn to the brink of Premier League survival.

A 2-0 victory over Portsmouth on Saturday, courtesy of a goal from Morten Gamst Pedersen and a Benni McCarthy penalty, took Rovers to the 40 points tally and means only a freak sequence of results involving the teams below them can see them relegated.

It marks an impressive achievement by Allardyce, who took over from Paul Ince just before Christmas with Blackburn languishing near the foot of the table.

In a neat twist of football fate, should relegation-threatened Newcastle draw with fellow strugglers Middlesbrough on Monday evening, that result would make Rovers’ survival mathematically certain.

“I’m not really bothered about Newcastle, as long as we get three points,” said Allardyce, who was dismissed as manager of the north-east club after eight unproductive months.

“It is one where, from my point of view, it?s all water under the bridge.

“My life goes on, I don?t worry about what happened in the past, only look to the future and I haven?t had time to think about anybody else.

“I?m going to enjoy tonight and I hope the players enjoy tonight because this is a big achievement, coming from where we came from when I arrived in December, with only 13 points from the first 17 games.

“It means everything to me,” he continued. “I want to be a Premier League manager and I want to stay as a Premier League manager and, though I came to take on a difficult job, I haven?t really had to worry too much because the players have been magnificent.”

Under Allardyce, Blackburn have lost at home just once in ten league games and have collected 27 points from the 19 total matches in which he has been in charge, a stark contrast with the stewardship of Ince.

“I think man management has been key,” said Allardyce. “You assess the situation and the very difficult circumstances, you try and understand the players, what they?re feeling and you try and alleviate their fears and bring their positive mental side out.

“With two games to go I expect us to pick some more points up as well, and look up at finishing higher in the table, but this group of players have been committed and determined to make sure they are playing in the best league in the world again next season.

“All credit to them. The achievements and efforts they have given have been well rewarded by getting to the magical 40 point mark.”

Portsmouth, and interim manager Paul Hart, are still two points short of that target and, while their current tally may yet prove sufficient to keep them in the top division, there is far more uncertainty over their survival than that of Blackburn.

John Utaka missed a late penalty for Pompey as they extended their run without a goal to 372 minutes, and a home game with Sunderland on May 18 could yet prove to be one of the most meaningful fixtures of the entire Premier League season.

“I’m more disappointed with the performance than the result because that is by far the worst performance we have had since February,” said Hart. “We have not looked anything like that.

“If the players thought the hard work was done, this was a timely reminder that in this division you can?t take your foot off the pedal. I?ve been saying forever that we need another win but it?s in our hands and we want to make it mathematically safe as soon as possible.”