Sam Allardyce's message to Sunderland fans

The 61-year-old made the comments during a Football Association press conference at the Hilton Hotel at St George’s Park.

Allardyce had been sitting in his villa in Spain 12 months ago after leaving West Ham, when he was offered the challenge of keeping Sunderland in the Premier league after Dick Advocaat’s departure.

“I got pretty fed up pretty quickly, because football is everything to me. I couldn’t actually leave it alone,” he said.

“I have to thank everybody at Sunderland for that opportunity, because that’s the opportunity that came along at the time.

“I chose the challenge and the success of saving them put me in the public eye again for when this position became available.

“I had a really great time at Sunderland. the fans were absolutely magnificent for me and I thank them for that.

“Hopefully the England fans will enjoy my time with them as much as the Sunderland fans did .”

Allardyce was the unanimous choice from the Football Association panel to replace Roy Hodgson, who stepped down after the humiliation of defeat to Iceland at Euro 2016.

He has already added his former Bolton assistant Sammy Lee to his coaching staff, but has faced questions of his management style and tactics already.

The former Bolton and Blackburn boss added: “I think that choosing styles or systems depends on the players available and then who we’re playing.

“My coaching technique is to try and give the players the opportunity to win a football match wherever they are playing, be it home or away. And to make them aware of the opposition, which may change the style of how we play.”