Big Sam gunning for Wembley

Rovers Big Sam is on the hunt for Wembley glory and sees the upcoming Carling Cup quarters as a massive chance to step out at the new stadium - makes sense hey?

Sam also is looking forward to putting aside the financial pressures of the Premier League games and having a go at the cup competition that Rovers have done so well to get this far in.

Allardyce, speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph said - "All we hear about now is finance. You have to stop finance ruling your life as a manager. It is about winning and the delights of playing well and the delights of encouraging your football team to win matches on a regular basis.

"Finance always is in the back of your mind and it is all about staying in the Premier League and alll about £400,000 for live games and £750,000 for each position.

"It constantly rings in your ears about the importance and responsibility of keeping your team in the Premier League but as a manager and former player, the opportunity of trying to get to Wembley is what you dream about as a young boy. It is what you put your life on the line for.

"It would make it all worth it. I think I always would love to see one to my grandchildren walking out with me at Wembley. That would be fantastic for me.

"I won`t be able to take them all but I would be able to take at least one of them. It is an emotional experience you remember for the rest of your life and one you look back on with great fondness. I would like to do that again."

Aston Villa will start the two ties as favourites and rightly so due to their good form over the last two months but due to the one off nature of the games and with Rovers two biggest/best players back in the squad... the chance is there Rovers to upset the odds, just like they did in the last round.

Allardyce continued - "We are so close now we can almost taste it but we have a massive hurdle ahead of us, the prize is so great I just hope we give a great account of ourselves to get there and finance doesn`t matter.

"I think we almost get brain washed into the nature of the business now. Because it is such a world wide publicised sport, the top sport in the world, the best league in the world, the top money in the world, its drawbacks are the pressure it brings. Handling that pressure is not an easy task.

"You are at a smaller club in the Premier League, like we are now. We haven`t got our benefactor Jack, who used to pump millions in to make us a very, very competitive team.

"We are very very competitive but as other teams have moved on financially growing, we have stood still and we have to always balance the books, try to stay in the Premier League and that is about the top and bottom of it. Occasionally you could over achieve and reach Europe but this is the only real chance of any real glory."

Personally I am absolutely stoked for tonight, not just because we are the underdogs again, not just because of the nerves and the adrenaline you get - but because it is a chance for a small club like ours to upset the form book and do something special again...

COME ON YOU BLUE AND WHITE ARMY!

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