Sam Allardyce: I didn’t want to stay at West Ham anyway

The Hammers confirmed within minutes of the final whistle in the club's final-day 2-0 Premier League defeat at Newcastle that the 60-year-old's contract would not be renewed, ending his four-year reign at Upton Park. The West Ham manager was under pressure at the start of the 2014/15 season to start delivering more attractive football than the brand he has become famous for, despite it almost guaranteeing Premier League survival.

The summer transfer window brought talents like Enner Valencia, Diafra Sakho, Alex Song, Morgan Amalfiatno, and in the winter, Nene. The season started brightly, as West Ham rushed up the table, but have won just two of their last 12 league games, and none of their last six on the road. Despite poor starts to the season, both Everton and Crystal Palace have both managed to leapfrog them, leaving Allardyce and West Ham in a disappointing 12th place.

Allardyce, who confirmed it was he who had decided not to sign a contract extension, later revealed he is unlikely to be in charge of another club for the new season, and is prepared to wait for the right job to come around.

Asked if he planned to be back in work by August, he said: "No, I'm looking for a break well beyond that.

"Recharging your batteries - if and when you come back if you have recharged your batteries, you are much better prepared to carry on doing the job at this level of football. It depends whether it's a year or whether it falls around Christmas time, or whoever might fall into trouble, whatever job you fancy doing. It's not just a job I'm after, it's he right job if it comes along. I certainly won't be doing that in the next few weeks. You can never say never, but I can't see myself in charge of another football club for the start of next season."

Allardyce's departure was confirmed in a statement issued by joint-owners David Gold and David Sullivan as he and his players headed back into the dressing room at St James' Park, where he had a brief spell in charge earlier in his career.

It said: "We would like to start by thanking Sam Allardyce for his valuable work since arriving at the Boleyn Ground four years ago.

"He leaves the club in a considerably better state then when he arrived and, for that, the board are truly grateful. However, we have made the decision not to renew his contract, so we now have the chance to appoint a new manager with a new philosophy to lead us into two of the most exciting years in our great club's history.

"Our target is to recruit a manager that will build a team capable of saying a fitting farewell to the Boleyn Ground next year and do justice to the outstanding surrounds we will call home from August 2016 (when the club moves to the Olympic Stadium in east London). We have already been impressed with the quality of candidates that have expressed an interest in the role and fully expect to appoint a manager with the credentials to take this club on to new heights."

Other managers have been linked with the West Ham job for several months now, with speculation intensifying as it was clear Allardyce would be leaving. Slaven Bilic has resigned from his role at Besiktas, freeing him up for a return to his former club, and David Moyes has been linked after reinvigorating his career in Spain at Real Sociedad. It's not clear whether Moyes would play the type of expansive football the West Ham owners and fans have recently demanded.

Allardyce insisted it was he who decided the time had come for a parting of the ways:

"I didn't want to stay, no. I suppose you could say it's mutual if they didn't want to give me one anyway, so that's a bit of tit-for-tat, isn't it?

"But it's done, it's dusted now, it's settled and we both move on. West Ham have a big job appointing a new manager and moving forward now - I have the job of seeing the family for a change, because it's a massive commitment. As a manager, you just ignore your family 24/7 when you do this job, and it's time for me to give the family a little bit of time and me to enjoy that time and see what comes in a few months' time.

"I thought it was time to leave, I thought it was the right time to leave. For me, four years is a long enough spell. You don't want to overstay your welcome and like I said, you have to commit your whole life to being a Premier League manager. You are under scrutiny all the time and you have to be totally obsessed with the job to get it right, and particularly your family, you have to ignore that side.

"They worry for you, they support you. They are down when you're down, they're up when you're up, so it does become a bit of a strain on them, particularly your wife, so it's time to have that break. It's leaving on a high for me - not a high today the way we performed in the second half - but leaving on a high, and walking away from a football club that has achieved so much in the last four seasons is something I am very proud of."