Source: Telegraph
Sam Allardyce committed to Blackburn
Allardyce, who succeeded Paul Ince as manager last December with Rovers marooned in the bottom three, can virtually guide the club to safety with a victory over Manchester City at Eastlands on Saturday.
Blackburn will remain vulnerable to relegation until they secure at least one more win, however, but despite the lingering threat, Allardyce has dismissed suggestions of an escape clause in his 2½-year contract that would be triggered by relegation.
Allardyce said: "Whatever happens, I am going to be here next season. The contract is signed, it is what it is and I am not after a new one. I won't be leaving.
"I don't want to work in the Championship, but what will be will be. We are working hard to make sure I won't be working at that level, though.
"It's a great league, but I want to be in the Premier League because it is where I think I belong. But if it happens over the next games [that Blackburn get relegated], then so be it and I will deal with it."
Blackburn travel to Eastlands without midfielder David Dunn, who has undergone surgery on an Achilles tendon injury that will keep him sidelined until the start of next season.
Paraguayan centre-forward Roque Santa Cruz will also miss out against the club who made a series of bids to sign him in January.
A knee injury continues to trouble the player and, with an £18 million escape clause in his contract, Allardyce admits that Santa Cruz may have played his last game for Blackburn.
He said: "Everybody knows his situation and, while we had control of it in January, the clause that allows him to leave for a set fee this summer ensures we no longer have that control. If somebody meets the valuation, we can't stop him leaving. "
City can take another stride towards European qualification with three points against manager Mark Hughes's former club.
And despite the turbulent season he has endured at Eastlands since leaving Ewood Park last June, Hughes insists he had no option but to move on from Blackburn.
He said: "I looked at it and thought it would be difficult to strengthen and keep on progressing, so I knew that last season was probably the right time to leave because I left them in good shape."
