Simon Jordan urges Aston Villa to appoint Sam Allardyce

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Aston Villa remain on the lookout for a new manager after sacking Steve Bruce.

Simon Jordan has told TalkSPORT that Aston Villa have got to forget about hiring inexperienced men such as Thierry Henry, and instead look to replace Steve Bruce with Sam Allardyce.

Bruce was sacked with many fans frustrated at a lack of team identity and style, as they fail to live up to pre-season expectations of a promotion push. They currently sit in 15th place in the league.

Belgium assistant and Arsenal legend Henry was linked with the Villa role and was the outright favourite for a spell, but he is now unlikely to be appointed. Villa will want to make an appointment before the end of the international break.

Former Crystal Palace owner Jordan believes Villa fans must forget about the style of their side until they regain Premier League status, with financial fairplay a much more worrying problem. He reckons out-of-work Allardyce is perfect.

“The Aston Villa board think appointing Thierry Henry is a good idea; they should sleep on it,” Jordan said. “If they wake up in the morning and they still think it is a good idea, then they should go back to bed.

“This is a big club that is on the brink of falling away from parachute payments. If they don’t get promotion this season, they will fall foul of financial fairplay in my opinion. You need experienced guys.

“The job in hand is to get Aston Villa out of the Championship, back into the Premier League, and then worry about the style of football. If I was at Villa now, I would be looking at Sam Allardyce to get the job done and back to the Premier League.”

Allardyce admitted to TalkSPORT on Tuesday that he would be interested in the Villa job: “If there’s any jobs I’d speak to them.”

Allardyce boasts a wealth of experience, including spells with West Ham, Bolton, Sunderland and Crystal Palace in the Premier League. He last managed Everton, after a short spell in charge of England that lasted one match.

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers, Brenford’s Dean Smith and Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe have all been linked with the role, but former Manchester United assistant Rui Faria remains the front runner.