Sam Allardyce in a hurry to save Sunderland from disaster of relegation

Sam Allardyce has replaced Dick Advocaat as manager at Sunderland

SAM Allardyce has pledged to waste no time in saving Sunderland from the "financial devastation" of relegation.

 

"Not the Academy or what happens in two years' time, it's got to be now," said Allardyce. "It has got to happen as quickly as possible."

Allardyce - or Fireman Sam as he will become known - has taken over a club who have spent recent years scrapping for Premier League survival and who have yet to win a league game this season.

They are second bottom from in the table - North east rivals Newcastle are below them - and Allardyce is under no illusions what he has to do after replacing Dick Advocaat as manager.

He said: "I am here to save them. I'm the troubleshooter. I've got to get the club out of trouble and then rebuild it.

 

"The priority I have to focus on is saving it. I have to protect its Premier League status because if it wants to move forward, it can't have the financial devastation relegation will bring.

"It needs the new pot of money the new TV deal brings in the summer."

Allardyce, who has talked to former Sunderland manager Peter Reid about ultimately trying to re-create the halcyon days of his time in charge, hopes to announce a new No2 before his first game in charge at West Brom on Saturday.

And while he insists his job is all about the here and now, Allardyce, 61 later this month, has already set his sights on staying beyond his current deal.

 

Unattached Kevin Nolan has been linked with a reunion with Allardyce at Sunderland

He added: "I spent four years at West Ham and people said I would only last one or two.

"I don't know how long I'll be here just yet. I've got an 18-month contract.

"I started with a two-year contract at West Ham and it was extended. It may well be the case here but it will only happen if I'm successful and we win football matches."

Allardyce is confident of stretching beyond his previous three spells in the North East - as a Sunderland player in the early 1980s, a brief spell on Reid's coaching staff and his ill-fated eight months in charge of bitter rivals Newcastle.

 

"Hopefully, I will be more successful than I have been in the past," he said. "I want to stay a bit longer.

"I didn't stay very long as a player, I didn't stay very long with Reidy because I got the Notts County job and I didn't stay long at Newcastle.

"But that's in the past. I am a man for the future and I'm back in the North East to try to make Sunderland as good as I possibly can."

Amazingly, his first home game on Sunday week is the Tyne-Wear derby with Newcastle.