SAM Allardyce has warned his Blackburn side to be wary of a ‘rejuvenated’ Mark Hughes at Ewood Park today.

The memories of Hughes’ four-year spell as Blackburn Rovers boss will come flooding back as his new Fulham charges arrive at Ewood Park this afternoon – and Allardyce believes his turbulent last couple of years will only have made him stronger.

Sparky’s time at Ewood brought three top 10 finishes and European qualification but, after a forgettable spell in charge at Manchester City, Allardyce expects him to come back firing.

After being harshly axed as Manchester City boss, Hughes spent six months out from the game but, speaking from personal experience, Allardyce insists a break from the game will have been the best thing for him.

The Rovers boss said: “I can see the parallels between Mark Hughes and myself. The pressure in this game is so intense, when you continue to do the job at this level and with this amount of pressure it can’t do anything but weigh you down physically and mentally.

“So the rest, even though you don’t want it and don’t think you need it, well for me anyway the first three months was the best thing that ever happened to me.

“I think he would have benefited from the break and, speaking from my personal experience, it is about a reassessment where you can put yourself in a quiet place, the phone stops and you can look back on what happened and, for me, enjoy the look back because it was nothing more than a huge success story.

“Then you think about what would you do better next time. There is a lot of self assessment for the next job that comes along.”

Allardyce himself knows all about being forced out of the game, having been booted out of Newcastle after a takeover, and he admits his year on the sidelines was an enjoyable experience.

But, as Hughes and Allardyce prepare to go head to head at Ewood this afternoon, Allardyce admits ultimately football is like a drug.

“Most of the times I was sleeping and enjoying myself with my family,” he said. “Most of the time I was waking up and the only decision I had to make was whether I wanted cornflakes or toast and where I was going to walk for the papers, where I was going on holiday.

“It struck home to me there is life after football but ultimately, as time ticks on, you get that feeling you want to get back amongst it and that you want to feel the pressure again. You become almost a junky to football.

“The adrenaline rush, the highs and lows, is so different you almost miss it. When you are in it you think you could do without it, but when you are without it you find you can’t do without it.”

Rovers entertain Fulham on the back of a confidence-lifting 1-1 draw at Manchester City on Saturday but Allardyce insists it is games like this afternoon’s that will really determine their fate this season.

He said: “Now we get to the nitty-gritty week. It was a bit of a glory week last week where we have upset one of the big boys and you can all enjoy the plaudits you get for that and you should because we should have been beaten comfortably with the money they have got.

“Now we have to get down to the nitty gritty and not waste that performance and not waste that result by trying to repeat that against Fulham to get three points and push on from there.

“Had we not got that point against Manchester City though three defeats in a row would have made us very nervous and very jittery.”