FORMER Blackburn Rovers favourite David Dunn hopes to continue playing despite being named as the interim manager of Oldham Athletic.

The major motivation behind Dunn’s decision in the summer to drop down into League One, after 14 seasons in the Premier League and the Championship with Rovers, was to get more time on the field.

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But the 35-year-old, who has taken over Oldham after Darren Kelly was sacked, has been advised that it will be difficult to combine his first management role with playing.

Dunn, however, has not ruled out pulling on his boots throughout his time in the Boundary Park hotseat.

“Members of staff, ex-players, and coaches and managers that I’ve had along the way, they are all saying it’s very difficult to do both,” he said.

“So that’s a decision I’ve got to make and we’ll see where we go with that.

“But I’m a confident lad and I’m hoping I can carry on some part in carrying on playing.

“One of the main reasons why I left Blackburn is because of the game time and I’ve already played more minutes this season than I did all last season at Blackburn.

“I’m still keen to play but these experiences don’t come around too often for a relatively inexperienced coach like myself.

“But I’ve got bags of experience with top, top managers over my career and I’m sure I can tap into every one of them, and I’ve called a few already, asking for little bits of advice over certain aspects of the job.”

Dunn is currently studying for his UEFA pro licence and he has long held ambitions to move into management.

But the former England international, whose first match in charge of Oldham comes on Saturday away to Doncaster Rovers, said: “I’m well on with my badges but I didn’t think it would come round this quickly.

“But I’m really looking forward to the opportunity that I’ve been given and let’s hope we can pick some results up really quickly.”

Kelly lost his job after Oldham went down 5-1 at home to managerless Peterborough United on Saturday.