The All Whites captain Ryan Nelsen says he's gutted his Blackburn Rovers club manager Sam Allardyce has been sacked by the club's new Indian owners.
Blackburn are 13th in the Premier League, five points above the relegation zone.
Allardyce's assistant Neil McDonald will also leave with immediate effect and assistant coach Steve Kean will take over first-team duties.
Nelsen says it has come out of the blue. He says Blackburn was in massive trouble when Allardyce and McDonald took over and they've done a wonderful job.
The All Whites skipper is shaking his head with the sacking coming after Newcastle United let their manager Chris Hughton go, despite him taking them back up to the Premier League and sitting mid-table. But Nelsen says that's just the world we live in.
Among those likely to take over at Blackburn are the former Tottenham boss Dutchman Martin Jol, who's just resigned from Ajax Amsterdam, ex-Aston Villa and Leicester City manager Martin O'Neill, and the former Rovers favourite Alan Shearer.
