Allardyce will lose captain Jay-Jay Okocha for the cup whilst he serves his country Nigeria and the Bolton boss is bemused that the tournament is allowed to coincide with the domestic season when other tournaments of its kind are either arranged around the season or whilst domestic action isn't taking place during the season.
"They cancel the fixtures for European Championship and World Cup qualifiers, The African Nations Cup is a competition, not qualifiers, so why not cancel fixtures? .Why do we not do this when that tournament is on? Is it a Mickey Mouse competition?" said the Bolton boss
"In every other international competition that is recognised by Fifa the Premiership fixtures stop for it. Most managers would like a January break, I don't think there is any question about that and the players could go away and play in the tournament."
Allardyce has said he might be looking for some form of compensation should Okocha suffer an injury whilst the tournament is taking place. As the player's contract runs out next summer the Bolton boss is all too wary about letting one of his star players miss such a big amount of the season.
"Can I sue Fifa, Uefa or the Football Association if Jay-Jay breaks his leg? Say we can't have him until the end of the season and we get relegated, Can we sue for £20m for taking a player who is contracted to me?
"While we don't want it to be like that, to my mind the Premier League fixtures are more important than the African Nations Cup."