Harry Redknapp has ruled himself out of the running to succeed Dick Advocaat as the Sunderland manager, and has suggested Sam Allardyce might be dissuaded from taking the role by the lack of quality in the squad.

Redknapp has been out of management since leaving QPR in February and is one several names linked with the post since the Advocaat stepped aside on Sunday,.

“No, I’m not into running [for the job],” Redknapp said. “I don’t know whether Sam wants it really. Sam is a very confident guy, he’s got a big ego, he’s done a fantastic job wherever he’s been, but Sam will be looking at it thinking: ‘Can I keep these up?’ If he thinks he can’t, he won’t take it.

“He doesn’t want to get relegated with them, because every year they seem to be in the same position and they’ve not recruited very well; they’ve not brought good players in. They’ve spent decent money again but I saw them play at Bournemouth the other day and they were an absolute disaster – wiped the floor with them. They were horrendous.”

Sunderland are currently 19th in the Premier League, above only Newcastle, with three points from eight games, and Redknapp had a warning for whoever does take on the challenge.

“Whoever takes it has a tough job on their hands. They’re poor at the back, the centre-halves aren’t good enough, they were short everywhere when I saw them the other week. There’s a lot of work to be done there.”