SAM Allardyce is taking legal advice over a rant caught on film by Blackburn Rovers boss Steve Kean ahead of today’s showdown meeting with club matriarch Mrs Desai in India.

Allardyce is understood to be furious and has instructed his lawyers to look into footage of Kean posted on YouTube, apparently filmed by a fan in a bar in Hong Kong during Blackburn's pre-season tour last summer.

The clip shows Kean defaming him as a “crook” to supporters in the bar last summer, and former boss Allardyce wants to see if he can take action against both Kean and the club.

The footage, filmed by a supporter and posted online late Monday night, has attracted huge attention and was sent to Desai yesterday morning - just 24 hours before she decides on Kean’s Rovers future.

Desai has also received a 4,312-name petition from fans calling for Kean to be dismissed, while it is understood she has also been sent reports from the Lancashire Telegraph emphasising the current discontent around the club.

Kean was unavailable for comment yesterday and was set to leave for Pune from Heathrow at 9.45pm, with his wife, arriving at around 2pm Indian time (10am British time) to talk to Desai.

The club also declined to comment.

Desai has been under heavy pressure to fire Kean for months now with board members, advisers and even fellow co-owners advising the time is right for a change.

She has always retained faith in Kean but will talk to him about the future today, after relegation from the Premier League.

Sources close to Desai have told the Lancashire Telegraph they do not know what Desai’s final decision will be.

Kean has always been adamant his position as Rovers boss is under no threat but Monday’s internet footage will be a huge embarrassment to him and the club.

The clip, which runs for four minutes and three seconds, shows Kean talking about his relationship with Allardyce.

He said: “I haven’t spoken to him because he mullered me so f### him. I worked my b#### off for him and then he had a go at me so f### him.”

He also brags about his involvement in the rise to prominence of former Blackburn defender Phil Jones, who was sold to Manchester United for £16.5million last June.

“When I arrived at the club he was playing at the academy,” he said. “So I went to one of the academy games and said ‘who is that lad there?’ to the academy coach. He said ‘Phil Jones’.

“I went ‘what do you think of him?’ and he said ‘I’m not sure we are going to keep him on.

“I said “you are f###### joking’. He said do you think he is good?

“I said ‘good? Send him up to the senior training centre f##### tomorrow. Good. He is as good as John Terry’. I said ‘if you don’t like him, no f##### problem. I f##### like him. Send him up to the senior training centre tomorrow’.

It also shows Kean telling supporters Rovers would finish in the top 10 and win the Carling Cup.

When asked about criticisms from fans and the Lancashire Telegraph, he replied: “All I will say is judge us at the end of the window."