Sam Allardyce has admitted taking the England manager’s job is the “greatest challenge” of his career and believes a winter break would be a huge benefit to the national side.
The 61-year-old was appointed as Roy Hodgson’s successor on Friday and held his first official press conference on Monday.
Allardyce joins the Three Lions following a short spell with Sunderland, who he helped to beat relegation from the Premier League last term.
The former West Ham, Blackburn and Bolton boss has been tasked with the job of rebuilding confidence after England’s shock last-16 defeat to Iceland at Euro 2016.
The England manager insists he is embarking on the toughest stage of his career and feels it is far removed from trying to keep clubs away from relegation.
Allardyce said: “This will be the greatest challenge for me in my long career and hopefully I will be as successful as I have in the rest of my career.
“In terms of winning no trophies or cups, unfortunately, as an English manager I never got to go right to the top of the Premier League.
“I saved clubs and never got relegated, and they are not the same as winning the FA Cup or League Cup, but they are big achievements.”
Allardyce revealed he is an advocate for a mid-season break in the Premier League and believes it would allow the national side to prosper if the FA decided to introduce it.
He added: “No mid-season break. I have been an advocate of that for 10 years or more.
The demand on players is enormous. “The Premier League is the best league in world so demand has to be on the players. It would help the Premier League and us at international level if we could try and achieve it.
“In my time when we finish at Christmas, in January and February it is always the most difficult time to get players through.”
England will now turn their attentions to qualification for the 2018 World Cup in Russia and can be backed at 1.36 to win Group F.
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