Southend United boss Phil Brown has revealed that he turned down an offer to become Sam Allardyce's assistant at Sunderland.

Brown has previously worked as Allardyce's right-hand man at Bolton before he made a name for himself by achieving promotion to the Premier League with Hull City in 2008.

"The opportunity was put to me to go to Sunderland but, after talking with the chairman here, I've decided to stay at Southend," Brown told the Southend Echo.

"It was something I did think about for a couple of days and I was considering what would be best for me to do.

"But I still have ambitions I want to achieve at Southend and I also want to try and get to 1,000 games as a manager.

"That's something I've always wanted to do and I'm not going to do it if I go and become an assistant somewhere."