Chris Coleman has supported Sam Allardyce’s “brave” decision to quit football management, but stressed that he will not be following the former England boss into Selhurst Park.
Wales manager Coleman was quickly linked with the Crystal Palace vacancy after Allardyce’s shock resignation given his 190-game spell at the Premier League club between 1991 and 1995.
But Coleman said it would look “cowardly” if he walked out on Wales little more than two weeks before their vital World Cup qualifier in Serbia on June 11.
Allardyce stunned the world of football on Tuesday night when he quit as Palace boss just five months into his reign and having secured the Eagles’ top-flight status.
The 62-year-old said he has “no ambitions” for a return to management as he outlined plans to travel and spend more time with his family.
“I won’t talk about Crystal Palace. Whatever they are going to do good luck to them, they are a great club,” Coleman, 46, said.
“But I am pleased for Sam he has made that decision.
“Because if he has made that decision it means he is not feeling like he felt before in terms of being up for the job.
“When you manage in the Premier League the rewards financially are unbelievable, but it is taxing in terms of your family and private life.
“Being a domestic manager you are out all the time working looking for the extra one per cent.
“Sam has been doing it a long time and been successful at it.
“If he is saying I am not up for this season and I want to spend some time at home, it takes a brave man to say that.
“I am glad he has done it and I think he will be better for it.”
Wales resume their World Cup qualification campaign in Belgrade with a four-point deficit on Group D leaders Serbia and the Republic of Ireland.
Coleman has named a 26-strong squad without suspended Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale for a Portugal training camp next week.
The party will be trimmed to 23 before Wales head out to Serbia, and Coleman is determined to make up for the lowest point of his five-year reign – the 6-1 defeat to the same opponents in September 2012.
“It wouldn’t look very good now if I did jump ship before we go back to Serbia,” Coleman said.
“It would look cowardly as well, going back to Serbia where I got my backside spanked.
“There is a little bit of spice to me because of what happened there previously, but it is a game I am really looking forward to.
“The next two results (Serbia away, Austria home) are huge in terms of what will happen in this campaign.
“But I am not ready to tell the FAW (Football Association of Wales) or ring my players up and say ‘Thanks for that’.
“I don’t think my journey is finished yet. I am not ready to hand this over to someone else, not yet I am not.”
