Source: Eurosport
Allardyce banking on Rovers stay
Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce is confident Rovers can stay up this season, but insists he will not leave should they succumb to the drop.Rovers currently occupy a precarious perch just a point above the Premier League relegation zone with nine games remaining.However, with almost half the division still embroiled in the basement battle, the fight for survival looks set to go down to the wire.Allardyce is confident Rovers can prevail in their quest to remain a top flight outfit, but hopes he will be given the opportunity to make amends should they slip into the Championship."It depends on whether they want me," he said in the The Guardian."Chairmen at various clubs might have a plan for not being in the Premier League but I am planning that we will be in it."I just want to keep Blackburn up this year - and that would be a major achievement, having taken over when we were second bottom, six points away from safety."Our points per game since then is equal to what you would need for a top-10 finish over the course of a season."We are on track and the players know they are on track, while other teams around us are still on a downward spiral, struggling to find consistency."One of the sides around them is Allardyce's former club Newcastle.The Magpies are currently without a full-time manager as Joe Kinnear recovers from a heart bypass operation and Allardyce believes the lack of leadership at St James' Park could prove costly."They need a manager," he said."If Joe hasn't fully recovered, and I sincerely hope he does, then at this stage of the season and in this position your manager is crucial."That's nothing against Chris Hughton and Colin Calderwood (interim coaches) but all the players there know they are not the manager."You need a manager because he goes a long way to towards deciding whether you stay up or get relegated - by his plan of action, by his selection process, by his substitutes, by his motivating."[LNB]
