SAM Allardyce wants to quit the Premier League for international management within three years – but is determined to first take Blackburn Rovers beyond people’s expectations.

Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s pre-season friendly against AEK Athens in the Sydney Festival of Football, the Rovers boss revealed he does have his sights on testing himself on the world stage by 2013, once his Premier League appetite is fully satisfied.

Allardyce, who was interviewed to succeed Sven Goran Eriksson as England boss, is for the moment fully focused on continuing Rovers’ Premier League rise but admits he does not foresee remaining in the Premier League long term.

The Rovers boss has already hinted an early Premier League exit before in his career, stating during his time at Bolton he was ready to retire at 55, and has now again brought up the possibility of leaving English league football before the age of 60.

Whie Allardyce’s chances of managing England in the future appear to have reduced over the last couple of years, the opportunity to manage another country would be a distinct possibility.

He has already attracted the interest of Dubai side Al Ahli this summer and would be likely to have a number of suitors should he start to seriously look for routes into international management.

“I would like to coach a national team, if one came up, in another two years," he said.

"Another two to three years in the Premier League is about what I want to do.

“We’ll see how far we can take Blackburn Rovers, we’ll see if we can get them beyond where most people expect and then after that, managing a national side would be very interesting.”

Allardyce has also sounded his concerns about the future of English football, claiming improving youth development is the only way to bring success on the world stage.

Rovers’ 18-year-old defender Phil Jones, expected to feature against Athens tomorrow, is one of the few hot young prospects in the country at the moment - with Allardyce insisting things have to change.

“Internationally, it’s pretty poor in England," he said.

“We’re suffering badly by having the greatest league in the world, and because of that we attract the greatest players in the world and the greatest coaches.

“Most of the coaches from all over the world want to be in the Premier League now.

"Most of the players from all over the world want to play there, so that detracts from the amount of young British players.

“They’ve started that a little bit now but it isn’t about the restrictions, it’s about the development that we have to put right and we have to find a development program that allows us to find the best-talented boys in the British Isles.

“The only way you can get an education in sport is in private schools and by paying for it, unfortunately.

"When you’ve got a non-competitive school upbringing you lose the development of young athletes, not just footballers, but boys and girls who want to be swimmers, in athletics, cricket or rugby.

“This has been the case for about 15 years.

"It started with Margaret Thatcher 20-odd years ago when she stopped all the teachers from doing all these extra-curricular activities and paying them, so the teachers shut down and stopped doing them."