West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce feels his career hit a road block when working with Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley.
Looking back over a career in football that stretches back nearly half a century to when he first walked through the doors at Bolton Wanderers as an eager apprentice, Allardyce feels the turning point came the day Mike Ashley bought Newcastle in 2007.
"It ended up where I couldn't get that bigger or better club, so I think there must have been something in my career that stopped me," he told the Daily Express.
"I think it was Newcastle. Had that been successful with Freddy Shepherd, the man who appointed me, staying on, I might have got an even bigger club than Newcastle.
"I don't blame Mike Ashley, because when you pay that amount for a football club and you know what you want to do with it, sometimes you like to get rid of the furniture you have inherited.
"But from a career point-of-view it was a massive blow. It was the spending the power of Newcastle that attracted me. I'd had limited funds at Bolton and it was the opportunity for the bigger pot - and Freddy wanted to emulate the success they had in the Kevin Keegan era.
"With Mike taking over those funds never materialised. I had lined up moves for Phil Jagielka, Luka Modric and Branislav Ivanovic - people on my Bolton recruitment database.
"Not big stars but quality players and with the finances I was being promised at Newcastle, we could have done something."
