West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce has some sympathy for Andre Villas-Boas after his axing at Tottenham.

Allardyce wrote in the London Evening Standard: "As for Andre Villas-Boas, there is sympathy from one manager to another but no more than for anyone else who has lost his job.

"I don't know what went on internally, whether there are other reasons for his departure but the heavy home defeat by Liverpool will not have helped and could have prompted the decision.

"Spurs have gone down the director of football route with Franco Baldini. I worked with one - Billy Bingham - at Blackpool but I prefer to work direct with the owners, rather than a football director or chief executive."