Crystal Palace fire manager Alan Pardew

Crystal Palace have sacked manager Alan Pardew after almost two years in charge of the London club.

Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew has been sacked after a terrible start to the 2016-17 Premier League season. The Englishman led Palace to a FA Cup Final last year, but this season his side have struggled. Their poor form in the Premier League has left them in 17th place — only a point above the drop zone. Although disappointed, it seems that Pardew understood the position he was in as he said that, “I have a lot of good feelings for this football club and I’m sad that my time there has ended” (via BBC). This good feeling was present when a fan managed to grab a selfie with Pardew just hours before his firing.

The Eagles have also had a terrible 2016, only taking 26 points from 36 games. In today’s game, it’s actually a surprise that Pardew wasn’t sacked sooner. Perhaps his past ties with Crystal Palace saved his job during his tough time in charge. He played for the London side between 1987 and 1991, making over 100 appearances for the club. However, the club’s co-owner Steve Parish finally decided it was time to call it a day, stating that “Relegation is so costly, and I feel with no blame attached, we got ourselves in a rut and need a change” (via BBC).

Parish also hinted that the club would be looking for a manager who might play a more direct form of football. With this information at hand, it’s no surprise that Sam Allardyce has quickly become the front-runner for the job. Allardyce was England manager for all of one game before he got caught explaining to undercover reporters how to get around third-party player ownership. Premier League survival is the only thing that matters right now for Crystal Palace, and besides Tony Pulis (who is currently manager of West Brom), there is no better man to keep a team up than Allardyce.