Pardew blames loyalty to certain players for Palace sack

Matt Stead

Alan Pardew claims that his loyalty to certain players cost him his job at Crystal Palace.

Pardew was sacked on December 23 after guiding Palace to just four wins in 17 games.

The club were 17th at that stage, one point above the relegation zone, and in imminent danger of returning to the Championship.

There has been some degree of improvement under Pardew’s successor Sam Allardyce, who has won four games in 11, lifting the club four points above the drop zone.

Pardew does not believe Palace would have suffered relegation under his management, but admits that loyalty to certain players eventually cost him his job.

“There’s no point me saying, ‘I didn’t make a mistake.’ Or, ‘It was the wrong decision.’ I have to accept it and make sure next time I go in I don’t make the same mistakes,” he told The Times.

“I say this to other managers who have had the sack, it’s important, you mustn’t wear it or you can forget the next job. My family, friends, fans might say it’s wrong but I think ‘it’s done, we move on’.

“Looking back, I sat down with Steve in the summer and we decided we wanted to take the club forward,” he says. “We made changes but I definitely have the view we didn’t change the squad enough.

“We brought players in but I think we should have done more. That was compounded when we thought we had good cover at left back, not thinking Pape Souaré would be in a car crash. That was a big mistake not getting cover in one or two areas.

“Sometimes as manager you do get loyal to players. They kept us up, we got to the cup final. I couldn’t fault their attitude but we didn’t have a balanced team.

“The players I’ve had, I think I’ve largely got the maximum out of them but maybe you can’t keep going for maximum. Maybe my loyalty gets in the way a little bit. I have been loyal to a fault with some. That’s just a trait I have. Something I have to keep an eye on.”