FA PREMIER LEAGUE: SIX MONTHS after he was turned down for the job, Sam Allardyce has been appointed to succeed Paul Ince as manager of Blackburn Rovers. In June, Blackburn had taken the radical choice of going for a young, black, former international who had proved himself in the lower leagues.

Now, with Blackburn five points adrift of safety in the Premier League, the chairman, John Williams, has put his faith in a safe, experienced helmsman, who at 54, is 13 years older than the man he replaced.

Eleven months after being sacked by Newcastle - the sole blemish on his managerial CV - Allardyce, who has signed a three-year deal, is back in management, although not perhaps at the club he was expected to join.

At the weekend, he had publicly lobbied for a chance to speak to the Sunderland chairman, Niall Quinn, about the vacancy at the Stadium of Light, acknowledging he was less interested in Blackburn - a club with fewer resources and more precariously placed in the league.

However, the realisation he was unlikely to return to Sunderland, a club he briefly represented as a player, appears to have concentrated his mind in the wake of Ince's sacking.

Williams was determined to have a replacement before facing Stoke at Ewood Park.

"You cannot underestimate how much a boost the physical presence of a new manager could have on Saturday for what is an absolutely mammoth game," he said.

"Everyone needs to know how big this game is and the club really has to come together."

One of Allardyce's great attractions to Williams was that, out of work since his dismissal at St James' Park last January, he was immediately available. So, too, was Graeme Souness, who had taken Blackburn to promotion and the League Cup in 2002. But Souness would be carrying plenty of baggage back to Ewood Park and today he confirmed he had not been approached.

Allardyce's appointment was, in any case, more popular with Blackburn supporters who had demanded Ince's removal after six straight league defeats climaxed in a capitulation at Wigan. Surveys carried out by the Lancashire Evening Telegraph showed Allardyce outpolling Souness, Alan Curbishley and Avram Grant, by three to one.

Blackburn have little money to spend but one of Allardyce's most impressive traits at Bolton was an ability to achieve great things with what appeared the thinnest of resources. In his eight years at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton won promotion, made it to a League Cup final and qualified for Europe. At Blackburn, his goals are more straightforward - ensuring the survival of a club for whom relegation is likely to have catastrophic consequences.

And if his no-frills style of football was regularly criticised, it was popular enough at Bolton and will be positively welcomed at Ewood Park, where one of the criticisms of Ince's regime was that there may have been plenty of passing football but there was precious little fight.

Since one of Allardyce's trademarks is to bring in a large backroom team, it is expected the coaching staff Ince took with him and who have overseen training since his dismissal - Archie Knox, Ray Mathias and Nigel Winterburn - will be paid off.