Sam Allardyce, the Blackburn Rovers manager, faces Newcastle United for the first time today since being sacked after only eight months in charge at St James' Park, admitting that he failed to overcome the negativity surrounding his approach to the job on Tyneside.

Allardyce, whose Newcastle reign ended a year ago after 24 games, took charge at Ewood Park after Paul Ince's dismissal last month. The former Bolton Wanderers manager's brief tenure at St James' Park was marred by criticism of his team's playing style and the vast backroom staff that he assembled, which was one of the factors in his successful eight-year spell at Bolton.

But, with Newcastle continuing to struggle 12 months on from his exit, Allardyce insists that he is not to blame for the failure of his critics to accept his style of management. “I can't help it if they can't understand it, can I?” he said. “There was a negative view on what was necessary to be successful. My staff up there wasn't that big anyway. It has just been exaggerated.

“If Newcastle spent all that money on great players, but didn't keep them fit enough to produce on a consistent basis, my approach was what they needed. But it wasn't just me that lost his job, it was the manager before me and the one before him and the one before him. That's the way it was.”

Allardyce believes that his critics were waiting for things to go wrong after he led Newcastle to their best start in the league in ten years. “The bottom line is that it was a disappointment for me,” he said, revealing also that he is keen to add to his backroom staff at Blackburn. “We have a very good staff here already, but I would like to bring a sports psychologist in at some point,” he said.