Hull City boss Steve Bruce insists Sunderland rival Sam Allardyce deserves to be considered for the England job.

Allardyce, 61, remains favourite after meeting with the FA trio of Dan Ashworth, Martin Glenn and David Gill earlier this week.

"Sam's been round the block, done the job year after year. Do we need a great coach? Or do we need someone who can make a team? You don't really need to coach international players, do you?" said Bruce - a close friend of Allardyce.

"We need someone to take the fear away to perform at tournaments. Everybody knows Sam is a very capable manager, and you don't do 1,000 games, a lot of them in the Premier League, if you're not talented."