SAM Allardyce is back in demand as a manager but he has ruled out ever returning to the Bolton dugout.

Odds-on favourite for the vacant job at Everton, the 63-year-old looks set for a return to football, five months after handing in his resignation at Crystal Palace.

Allardyce left Wanderers in 2007 after a fall-out with former chairman Phil Gartside but still lives in the town and has often been linked with a comeback.

But speaking exclusively in The Bolton News, the Whites legend said he would only be interested in a role “upstairs” should one become available in the future.

“Would I ever go back to Bolton? No, not as a manager,” he said.

“Maybe one day, if they needed help, and they wanted to properly move forward, get back into the Premier League and re-invent themselves then I’d come on in some capacity.”

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Allardyce says he regrets the bitterness which ensued after his departure at Wanderers, shortly before they embarked on a second European campaign.

“Even now, I will say it was still such a shame to have left the club under the circumstances I did. It was my very, very sad decision to make,” he said. “But that decision came from my mind, and at the time I just couldn’t let my heart overrule that decision.”