Home And Away | Sacked with a smile – Alan Pardew gives season’s greetings to Crystal Palace’s axe swinger
Scrooge of the Year goes to the woman who criticised young cancer sufferer and Sunderland fan Bradley Lowery
On the Italian island of Sicily, they say your assassins come with smiles. They do the same in the south east of London. Just ask Crystal Palace Alan Pardew, who was sacked three days before Christmas Day after a miserable run of only one win in 11, leaving the club 17th in the Premier League.
As recently as December 3, after Palace’s 3-0 win over Southampton, Pardew thanked Palace chairman Steve Parish for his support through the hard times.
After the third goal, Pardew gave a thumbs-up gesture to Parish in the executive box, who responded in a similar fashion; smiles all round. Then on Thursday came the gift-wrapped bullet.
Pardew should have known the Christmas spirit is a rare commodity inside Selhurst Park. Two years ago in December 2014, the manager Pardew replaced, Neil Warnock, was sacked with Palace in the relegation zone.
A former Palace player, Pardew left Newcastle United to return to his native south London and his appointment was cheered among supporters; here was one of their own and an FA Cup winner to boot. Results improved as Palace went on to avoid the drop comfortably by finishing 10th – their best final position in the Premier League era.
