Big Sam told ZOO magazine: "It's all about fashion. At the moment the fashion in football is to employ a foreign coach. I would have got more opportunities if I was not English. You give me Chelsea's team and I could manage them. You put me in charge of Real Madrid and I could manage them, no doubt."
Allardyce is scathing about the suggestion that British bosses think the definition of team binding is a session in the boozer but concedes there is a drink problem at some clubs.
"That sort of thing hasn't happened here at Bolton for six years now," he said. "But some people believe foreign players look after themselves better than English players.
"I'm not sure that's true but we do have a cultural problem. British players are brought up to go out at 13 and drink alcopops. So you can't expect them to join a club and stop completely. There's a lack of discipline in this country.
"But the French smoke, and what's more harmful to a footballer: going out and having a few beers, or smoking 20 fags a day? I'd say the fags."