LONDON: New England manager Sam Allardyce believes it is just the right time in his career for him to be taking on what some have called the impossible job.

Allardyce, who will give his first news conference on Monday, has left Premier League club Sunderland to succeed Roy Hodgson with the England team at a low ebb after poor performances at the 2014 World Cup and Euro 2016.

Allardyce, 61, was upset to be overlooked for the job in 2006 after being interviewed before Steve McClaren was appointed.

Ten years on, he is convinced the extra decade in management will prove beneficial in a job successive managers have found comes with elevated expectations and intense media scrutiny.

“It is the right time for me,” he told the English FA’s website. “I’m at the right age with the right experience. Hopefully I can pass on that knowledge to the team and the staff that works behind the team to try to get a very happy camp that becomes successful.”

Allardyce told his players to use their shock Euro 2016 exit at the hands of Iceland in the last 16 as motivation for the future.

“It’s a very bitter experience as we all know but that inner drive... players should keep that, they should hold it and use it as a positive, say ‘we don’t want to experience that again’,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2016