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Sam Allardyce has branded West Ham's owners "ungrateful".

He has also dismissed his former employers' chances of qualifying for Europe this season but admits his own lack of faith in the squad may have dashed his chances of getting a new Hammers contract.

Allardyce, 60, has lifted the lid on his summer exit after four seasons in charge at Upton Park, telling beIN Sports: "'The West Ham Way' is obviously not winning every week, like I tried to do!

"I did everything they asked for and they wanted more, and I found that extremely ungrateful in terms of what I'd done for them.

"They thought we could get into Europe [West Ham DID play in Europe this season but only after winning a place in the first qualifying round of the Europa League via the Fair Play Table] and thought they might be able to get to a cup final, and that wasn't in the format of the job description when I started.

"I don't take kindly to people who don't appreciate what you do for them.

(Image: AFP/Getty)

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"We both decided to part company in quite an amicable way in the end, but I certainly wasn't going to stay, in my mind, for a long, long time.

"If [West Ham co-owners] David Sullivan and David Gold have told [new manager] Slaven Bilic that they expect to get into Europe this year then I think it's way beyond the capabilities of the squad at this moment in time.

"I told them that. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why they didn't renew my contract in the end?

"West Ham was a case of building a broken football club back up again. [Getting West Ham promoted] was the biggest job I had done in one season.

"Ultimately, my biggest problem was finishing tenth in the first year [back in the Premier League] — I would have been much better off finishing fourth from bottom!"

(Image: Action Images)

Allardyce's West Ham reign has left him convinced the days of managers ruling a club from top to bottom are over.

He added: "A manager today is fast becoming something owners don't want. They [owners] are in charge of the football club and want to see it flourish and the days of the manager being the almighty, dominant power like they used to be are long, long gone and you must build a relationship and understand."

Meanwhile, Bilic has confirmed midfielder Morgan Amalfitano HAS been axed from the first team-fold after a pre-season bust-up with him — as we exclusively revealed on Tuesday.

(Image: Mike Hewitt)

Bilic said: "My first job is to protect the team. To keep the team as a unit, in the best possible way. If I feel that someone is damaging it in a way, I have to react. I had to do it, to keep the harmony, to keep everything in place."

Striker Diafra Sakho remains in contention to face Leicester on Saturday, despite his recent arrest on suspicion of assaulting his girlfriend.

* ﻿WEST HAM and Charlton have made their moves as the race for in-demand

Dagenham & Redbridge starlet Jodi Jones hots up.

The Hammers are understood to have tabled a £250,000 bid for the 17-year-old forward. Championship Charlton have offered £100,000 plus defender Ayo Obileye, who has already spent last season as a teammate of Jones' on loan with the League Two club.

Almost 50 scouts attended the Daggers' pre-season friendly against Crystal Palace to watch Jones in action.

Charlton's second-tier rivals Sheffield Wednesday and Reading were among the clubs represented and both want to take Jones on trial.