Four days after being given permission to talk to Crystal Palace about taking over at Selhurst Park, Alan Pardew has been appointed manager of the South London side per reports from the BBC and beyond.
The deal is said to be a two-year contract for Pardew but Palace have yet to officially confirm. The 53-year-old will replace Neil Warnock, who was sacked last Saturday following his side’s 3-1 Boxing Day loss to Southampton.
Pardew watched his new club from the stands on Thursday’s 0-0 draw at Villa Park and will be expected to take the reigns for Palace in Sunday’s FA Cup match at Dover Athletic.
[MORE: Pardew in stands for Palace; Rumors of Pardew to Palace]
It’s an interesting move for Pardew and one that makes a lot of sense when the facts are added up. Since scoring Palace’s match-winning goal against Liverpool in the semi-final of the 1990 FA Cup, Pardew has been hailed a club legend. South London also happens to be where, despite managing in Newcastle over the last four years, Pardew and his family have kept their home. Then you have to consider the emotional roller-coaster the manager faced during his tenure in the North East, from the heights of guiding the Magpies to a European place in the 2011/12 season to earlier this fall when fans turned on him and created a website called sackpardew.com.
While Palace is a decidedly smaller club than Newcastle, Pardew is expected to be given full control over transfers, a perk that didn’t exist under Magpies owner Mike Ashley and chief scout Graham Carr. And while Palace may not be an English powerhouse as a club, that could all change if, as reports have indicated since October, the club is purchased by American Josh Harris. The co-founder of Apollo Global Management currently owns the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils, and would become the fifth Premier League side under American ownership (behind Randy Lerner (Aston Villa), Ellis Short (Sunderland), John W. Henry (Liverpool) and The Glazer Family (Manchester United)).
