Allardyce hopes he has Harry´s ´Midas´ touch

Sam Allardyce said Thursday he hoped to emulate Harry Redknapp after becoming the manager of Premier League strugglers Blackburn Rovers.

Former Bolton and Newcastle boss Allardyce, 54, was appointed Wednesday on a three-year contract, a day after Rovers sacked Paul Ince.

Blackburn are second-bottom in the lucrative English top-flight and facing relegation, having won just three out 17 games – all under Ince who took over in June – so far this season.

Redknapp, previously in charge of Portsmouth, oversaw the end of Tottenham's eight-game winless run in the Premier League at the first attempt with a 2-0 win over Bolton in October and has since guided the north London club out of the bottom three.

“I hope I can be like Harry Redknapp, he seems to have the Midas touch,” Allardyce told a news conference at Ewood Park here Thursday.

Allardyce was a candidate for the post of Blackburn manager when Ince was appointed in June after Mark Hughes's departure to join Premier League rivals Manchester City.

He had eight years in charge of Bolton, establishing Rovers's fellow north-west side in the Premier League and making them tough to beat, before a brief spell at Newcastle saw him sacked by then new owner Mike Ashley.

“Six months ago it was a case of speaking with (Rovers chairman) John Williams, going home and talking to my better half,” Allardyce explained. “After 15 years straight managing and coaching I decided it was too early to jump back into the mainstream.

“Now I can get going in terms of getting my teeth stuck into the job and improving results, certainly in the beginning.”

Rovers, who finished seventh last season, are currently five points adrift of safety ahead of this weekend's game against Stoke and Allardyce admitted: “It's difficult – an unexpected position I think.

“But I've been there before and now the players must respond very quickly.

“You can never say you are too good to go down – clubs have fallen foul of that before – but the players have to play to the maximum of their ability to get us out of trouble, hopefully as quickly as possible.”

He added: “As the Premier League seems to go on, the time for managers seems to get shorter. Your job is to get results almost immediately; if you don't want to get involved in that don't come back.

“I do. I've grown from that experience and most importantly recharged the batteries – and I'm ready to 'rock and roll' again.”

Williams, who almost as soon as Ince had been sacked said he would move quickly to bring in a new manager, said of “first-choice” Allardyce: “Experience is the word, he's been there (and) done it. We feel we've got the man to pull us round.”

Allardyce explained he would assess Rovers's existing squad before deciding whether to bring in new players during the January transfer window.

And Williams said: “We'll do our best to support him, we always have done that with our managers. We've usually managed to give them every penny we have got – and some that we haven't got.”

Allardyce, after his rollercoaster ride at Newcastle, said he was looking forward to his time with Rovers.

“This club's always been very stable. Over many many years, they've been professionally run at all levels – and apart from obviously Paul losing his job very very quickly after taking it, you look at the past and you've always had a good chance to get success.”