Allardyce - It has to be Harry

Sam Allardyce has ruled himself out of the running for the England job and backed Harry Redknapp for the role.

Hammers chief joins support for Redknapp

West Ham boss Sam Allardyce has ruled himself out of the running for the England job and backed Harry Redknapp for the role. Allardyce believes Redknapp is the "number one choice" to take over from Fabio Capello as England manager. Tottenham boss Redknapp is the overwhelming favourite to succeed Capello following the Italian's surprise departure on Wednesday.

Obvious choice

"It's obvious," said Allardyce. "He hasn't just been talked about now, he's been talked about since he started to be successful at Tottenham. "It's not unusual that Harry is the number one choice in the country at the moment. "He's taken Tottenham from the depths of the Premier League and moulded a team to challenge the top four. "He broke the top-four hoodoo and looks like doing it again this season, it makes him the obvious choice." Allardyce has never hidden his ambition to be England manager and was a candidate for the top job while in charge at Bolton in 2006 before the Football Association made their decision to appoint Steve McClaren. The 57-year-old is further down the pecking order this time around despite guiding West Ham to the top of the Championship. And while Bolton said at the time they would allow Allardyce to speak to the FA, he has had no such conversation with the Upton Park hierarchy.

Focus

"My focus is West Ham, we are top of the league and want to clinch promotion so my thoughts are not on the England job," added Allardyce. "Last time a decision was taken by the football club as a whole as well as me, in terms of me being allowed to make myself a candidate to be England manager. "That is not the case at the moment."