Sam Allardyce says he is unlikely to consider a Championship club, after a bizarre attempted bet linked the former Bolton and West Ham boss with Norwich City.

Paddy Power claimed that a punter had attempted to place a six-figure bet on Allardyce becoming the next manager of the Canaries, so reacted by making the former England manager 11/10 favourite for the role.

That was despite City not being in the market for a new boss, with head coach Daniel Farke recently leading his team on a fine run of form which featured an eight-game unbeaten run.

MORE: Gambler tries to put six-figure bet on Allardyce taking over at City

The 63-year-old was on Talksport this morning though and suggested he was unlikely to be interested in a Championship role, when the unlikely Norwich link was mentioned to him.

'Obviously everybody prefers to work at the top if they can,' Allardyce said. 'If there's enough encouragement from a club in the Championship, where you're going to be able to compete against the wealthier clubs in the Championship, then you think you can get promoted very quickly.

'I did it at West Ham and that was a great journey but it's an arduous journey, with the 46 games and everybody striving to get out of there.

'So if you've got the right talent on the field and you get the right infrastructure off it and the bosses are pushing in the right way – and I'm not sure how easy it is to fund a promotion now because of the financial fair play rules in the Championship – then you'd maybe give it a go.

'But certainly the Premier League would appeal to me more than anything else, if i was going to go back anywhere.'

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The former Bolton and Preston defender has enjoyed successful stints at Crystal Palace and Everton in the last two seasons, bringing stability to both clubs when they were in trouble, following his brief and controversial time as England boss in 2016.

However, he went further to suggest that he's not even looking for a new job at the moment, despite Aston Villa currently needing a new manager following Steve Bruce's sacking with the club 15th in the Championship table.

'I'm not too sure whether I'd fancy the Villa job at the moment,' he continued. 'I'm watching football, travelling the world. I suppose if there's contact, like everybody else I would talk to them.

'Only China and at the moment I don't really fancy leaving the family, I've done that an awful lot in my life as a footballer and at this stage of my life it's not something I'm going to do.

'Everyone knows how great the money is but for me it's not just about the money, it's the standard and where you're going to live as well as manage – and at the moment China wouldn't appeal to me.'