KEVIN Davies reckons Sam Allardyce could eventually be tempted back into football if the right local offer came along.

News of Big Sam’s ‘retirement’ broke on Tuesday night, with the 62-year-old insisting he had “no ambitions to take another job” after resigning his post as manager of Crystal Palace.

Allardyce released a statement confirming he wanted to step away from the demands of the Premier League dugout and spend more time with his family, returning to his home in Bolton.

Davies, who became one of his great success stories at in seven-and-a-half years at Wanderers, says his former boss deserves a rest. But the former England striker thinks Allardyce could still be coaxed back into a footballing role somewhere closer to home in time.

“I think it will be hard for him to stay away for too long,” he told The Bolton News. “Maybe there is something for him upstairs somewhere, which doesn’t have the same day-to-day demands and might let him spend more time at home.

“He did a bit of media last time he was out of work, so that is certainly an option, but I’m sure if something came up locally he’d consider it, provided it was at the right time for him, personally.

“If a club in the North West was in trouble, for example, I can’t think of anyone else who’d be better placed or more experienced to help.

“He’ll certainly never stop getting linked in the media, even though he has said he’s retired.”

Allardyce is the only manager to take charge of six different Premier League teams. Arguably his most successful spell, however, came at Bolton, where he led the Whites to promotion in 2001 and then four consecutive top-eight finishes.

Since leaving in 2007 Allardyce has been intermittently linked with a return to the club, and Davies could see a time where he does come back ‘home’ to Wanderers.

“Obviously it depends entirely on the ownership but I think he’d get involved in a non-executive way,” he said. “There has been a lot of change since he was at Bolton but it’s obviously still close to him. Having him sat on the board, using his experience, I could see that happening sometime in the future.

“Whether that is hands-on enough for Sam, I don’t know.”

Allardyce spent s short time out of the game after his spell as England boss came to a controversial end last September.

He returned to succeed Alan Pardew at Selhurst Park and lead Palace out of the bottom three to maintain a record of having not experienced a top flight relegation in any of his 15 seasons.

Davies thinks Allardyce reached a point where he needed to scale down his workload and take stock of his home life at the expense of a second season with Palace.

“I know Sam has a very close-knit family and that he has missed out on his grandkids growing up to a certain extent,” he said.

“His wife, Lynn, hasn’t been down in London with him this time, so perhaps something clicked. He’s 62 now and he said he wants to enjoy his life a bit more without the pressure of football.

“Management is 24-seven and I think Sam has said it doesn’t matter if you are home or not, you are never really available.

“There are always phone calls to answer, videos to analyse, problems to solve.

“I guess it is difficult to spend quality time with your family.

“But I am surprised he’s ruling out getting involved again down the line. You look at people like Harry Redknapp coming back at the age of 70, and it is very difficult for some people to leave the game alone. It’s in your blood.

“When Sam got the Sunderland job people had been talking about him retiring but he found the job too difficult to turn down.

“Perhaps now he’s decided enough is enough but there will always be a job for him in the game, I’m sure.”