Sir Alex Ferguson has
described the sacking of
Blackburn manager Sam
Allardyce as "absolutely
ridiculous".
Speaking after his team's 1-0 win
over Arsenal which put them top
of the Premier League, the
Manchester United boss spoke
up in defence of Allardyce.
"I've never heard of such a
stupid decision in all my life,"
said Ferguson, a close friend of
Allardyce.
"I don't know what they're doing
up there, but deary me. It
confounds common sense.
Absolutely ridiculous."
Former Bolton and Newcastle
boss Allardyce took over at
Ewood Park in December 2008,
following Paul Ince's brief spell in
charge.
Having inherited a side in the
relegation zone, he pulled them
out of trouble and led Rovers to
a 10th-place finish last season, as
well as reaching the semi-finals
of the Carling Cup.
Although results this season have
been mixed, the low point being
a 7-1 thrashing by Ferguson's
United last month, Blackburn lie
13th in the table, so the decision
by the club's new Indian owners
to replace a man spoken of as a
possible future England boss was
a major shock.
Allardyce's last game in charge
was Sunday's 2-1 defeat by
Bolton, the club where he
established his managerial
reputation.
"I had to pop in to see the
chairman (John Williams) and he
presented the rather shocking
news to me," Allardyce told Sky
Sports.
"It was obviously unexpected,
but that's the world of football
today.
"It hasn't really been explained
to me and I'm a little confused in
my own mind at the moment,
but the reality will kick in in a
couple of days.
"It's up to them now where they
take the club forward. I'm not a
part of it, I'm very disappointed
about that and would have liked
to have been a part of it - but
I'm not."
Less than three weeks ago, the
Rao family, who completed a
£43m takeover of the club in
October, gave Allardyce their
public backing.
"We want results and Sam has
taken up the challenge. He
deserves a chance," said
Anuradha Desai, chairman of the
Rao family's chicken producing
company Venky's.
Blackburn captain Ryan Nelsen
told BBC Radio 5 live the news
had come as a complete
surprise, and the players had not
even had the news broken to
them officially.
Nelsen found out after receiving
a text message from a journalist
in his native New Zealand asking
for his reaction to the news.
"I'm shocked and devastated -
not in my wildest dreams did I
see this coming," he said.
"What he picked up when he
took over was a club in
diabolical trouble, he's turned it
round into an efficient
streamlined club that's spent no
money and done extremely well
- it's the world we live in, but I
just feel absolutely gutted for the
man."
Former Tottenham manager
Martin Jol, ex-Newcastle boss
Chris Hughton and even former
Argentina coach Diego
Maradona are among the names
linked with the vacancy.