West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce feels he's nailed the reason behind talk linking him with the Nigeria job.

Allardyce wrote in the London Evening Standard: "Finding a new manager revolves around the whole package - how good is the manager, what are the financial implications and what is the compensation?

"A bubble of rumour and speculation is created and, really, it's one we could all do without, particularly when one short, unsubstantiated tweet can quickly become 'fact' to a lot of people. I presume the Nigeria connection, for example, is because Jay Jay Okocha, who played for me at Bolton, and is now involved in football in that country.

"For me, Jay Jay is a top man, one of the best I've met and Nigeria's equivalent to David Beckham in his stature and the esteem he commands in his homeland. Here's a small sample of the man. He can speak four different languages, he was seen as flamboyant on the field of play but off it he is very calm, collected, family orientated and quite a religious person.

"He also has had the intelligence to learn valuable lessons from wherever life has taken him, from Nigeria to Germany, Turkey, France and then England."