LONDON - GRAEME Souness has ruled himself out of returning for a second spell as manager of Blackburn Rovers after the struggling Premier League club sacked Paul Ince.

The former Liverpool and Scotland midfielder, who has also managed at Anfield and had spells at Turkey's Galatasaray and Portugal's Benfica, left Ewood Park in 2004 to manage Newcastle.

Souness was installed as the favourite to take over at Rovers the moment Ince, who himself was only appointed in June after Mark Hughes joined top-flight rivals Manchester City, was dismissed on Tuesday with Rovers second-bottom in the Premier League and five points adrift of safety.

But Souness told the Lancashire Telegraph: 'I don't know anything and have had no contact at all from Blackburn Rovers.

'It doesn't surprise me to see my name in there but I'm not your man, I can definitely say that.' Souness's comments mean Sam Allardyce is set to become the front-runner in the race for the Blackburn job.

The former Bolton and Newcastle manager lost out to Ince in June and had been thought to be more interested in the vacancy at rival Premier League club Sunderland.

Blackburn chairman John Williams has confirmed he has one name at the top of the list and hopes to make an announcement before the end of the week.

'I do have an idea of who I want to come in and we will be working to try and make that happen over the next couple of days,' he said.

'Hopefully we will have someone in by the weekend but there are no guarantees, we have to make sure we get the right man now.

'You can't underestimate how much of a boost a physical presence could have on Saturday for what is an absolutely mammoth game (at home to Stoke).

'Everyone needs to know how big this game is as this is a time the club really has to come together.' Blackburn have won just three of their 17 league games so far this season. -- AFP