Just stay Jay-Jay and help us

Sam Allardyce has pleaded with his Nigerian captain Jay-Jay Okocha to retire from international football and help Bolton win the Carling Cup.

Allardyce is incensed that Okocha is due to miss the club's semi-final next month in order to report to a training camp in Tunisia ahead of the African Nations Cup.

Okocha is due to fly out shortly after the match against Manchester United on January 7 and could be away for five weeks. Now, though, Allardyce wants him to snub his beloved country and concentrate on his career in England.

'The rules are so unfair, it just shouldn't happen,' said Allardyce. 'If I could get a court order, I'd go and get one tomorrow and slap it on Nigeria. The only thing he can do is retire and I will put the question to him.

'It's probably better that he stays with us and takes us through to the final. It's been a magnificent effort and once you get this far you want your best players.

'He will probably say "no" to me because it is the African Nations Cup and it would be like asking a European player not to play in the European Championships. But he will have to have a serious think about it.'