SAM Allardyce admits Blackburn Rovers’ relegation to League One is simply down to mismanagement by the club’s owners, the Venky’s.

Allardyce was sacked by Rovers in December 2010, with the club 13th in the Premier League, a month after the club had been bought by the Rao family.

He had been in charge at Rovers since December 2008 and won 32 of his 90 games in charge before being sacked when he was replaced by Steve Kean.

Eighteen months later the club were relegated from the Premier League, and on Sunday, after five seasons in the Championship, dropped in to the third tier of English football for the first time in 37 years.

Allardyce, now in charge of Premier League side Crystal Palace, was asked about Rovers’ plight in his press conference this afternoon, and said: “That’s down to mismanagement – simple as that.

“I was at Blackburn with a well-structured football club and unfortunately since then it’s slid down, and down and down.

“I think that’s unfortunate and by how the club has been run since I left, sadly.

“That happens in football, changes are made and sometimes they are not for the best.

“Blackburn as a football club when I got there was steeped in modern day history because it won the Premier League in 1995 – that’s quite a while ago, but they learned how to live with expectation of who they were.

“Sadly when Jack Walker died and the millions of pounds he funded the club with stopped, they still managed to find a business plan to continue and stay in the Premier League.

“That’s very important as a football club that business plan.”