A Whole Week of Fireworks

Crystal Palace fans were in for a veritable treat this week as the cloud of uncertainty floating ominously around SE25 disappeared. Six points out of six, a new manager and Zaha's potential suitors politely told to 'jog on' have all led to a dream week for Crystal Palace fans.

Before the weekend there had been very strong rumours that Blackpool manager and media favourite Ian 'Olie' Holloway was being coveted by the Palace board as Dougie's replacement. Despite his intense loyalty to the tangerine dream of getting the Seasiders back into the Premiership, it seemed inevitable when it emerged that his three daughters, who are all hard of hearing, lived in London and that he was relishing the opportunity to come back to the Capital to be closer to his family.

A £400k release fee stamped on his contract made it very difficult for Karl Oyston, the Blackpool Chairman, to hold onto his prized Bristolian and on Saturday morning just before a home clash against Blackburn Rovers, it was announced that Ian Holloway was the new Crystal Palace boss.

The news was greeted by rapture amongst the Palace faithful who had picked up not only one of the biggest characters in football but also a manager who on recent form has to be seen as the most qualified to get Crystal Palace back into the the top flight. Having surprised everyone by achieving promotion with Blackpool via the playoffs, he almost managed to achieve the impossible when he took what has to be seen as a very average side to within 45 mins of survival in the World's greatest football league. Ollie then showed incredible bounce-back-ability to shake off the disappointment of relegation and guide his team straight back into the playoffs where they were very unfortunate to lose to West Ham.

As a result, there was a real buzz about Selhurst Park and infront of a more numerous Palace audience than has been experienced thus far this season, Murray headed home on the stroke of half time to put the Eagles 1-0 up against Blackburn. The joy from the opening goal remained as the first half was called to a halt and after being treated to a textbook half time performance from the lovely Crystals, Holloway was presented to the fans and didn't fail to impress in his first interview as Crystal Palace manager. Another Murray penalty secured Curtis Fleming's parting gift, a 2-0 victory that moved us up to 3rd in the league.

The Palace action was coming thick and fast as after three days full of Holloway interviews, it was now time to see him in action as his side faced potential banana skin and bottom of the table Ipswich Town. What was described to me as a sketchy first half, where we fell apart towards the end, still provided a 1-0 lead thanks to an exquisite Bolasie lob. What happened in the second half was indeed a very a pleasant surprise for Palace fans. Three penalty decisions, a Glen Murray hattrick and an impressive André Moritz moustache all inspired what ended up as a 5-0 thrashing of Mick McCarthy's new side.

Crystal Palace are now on a twelve game unbeaten run and will be looking to add to it tomorrow away at Peterborough.

Who's it going to be then?

After a hectic week filled with different stories regarding the events behind the scenes leading to Dougie's departure, rather than dwelling on the bitter subject, I think its time to move on and focus on trying to consolidate our promotion chase. In order to do so, we have find the right man to take us there. I've made a list of possible candidates for the job starting off with the current caretaker manager.

Lennie Lawrence

Odds: 6/1

Likelihood: 5/10

Rating: 7.5/10

Dougie Freedman personally brought Lawrence into the fold as he needed an experienced hand to help him through his first season of football management. He knows the ins and outs of the club and is clearly a big influence at the club so would be a great choice especially seeing as we are on a great run of form. However, it looks like he may be joining Dougie at Bolton.

Owen Coyle 

Odds: 22/1

Likelihood: 4/10

Rating: 7/10

Coyle is still relatively young for a manager but comes with a great deal of experience for his age. He's enjoyed succesful spells at St. Johnstone, Burnley and had a great start to life at Bolton, where he was recently sacked allowing Freedman to take over the reigns at the Reebok. Not everyone's cup of tea but I think he's a quality manager and could be a great acquisition. However, he is good friends with Warnock...

Harry Redknapp

Odds: 33/1

Likelihood: 2/10

Rating: 8.5/10

Earlier this year everyone wanted him to be the new England manager following Capello's resignation but has somehow ended up without a managerial job after missing out on Champions League Football with Tottenham in the most unfortunate of circumstances. He has just joined Bournemouth as part of their advisory board and is concentrating on his punditry which makes him an unlikely candidate but he is a London boy and his ability and experience would make him the pick of the candidates for most teams throughout the country.

Gareth Soutghate

Odds: 10/1

Likelihood: 4/10

Rating: 5/10

Ex-Palace players are always going to be linked with a return to Selhurst Park and Southgate is no different. He had a bright start with Middlesborough but after wasting a club record £11million on Brazilian dud Afonso Alves, times became tough for the young manager and he was eventually sacked. Gareth has since gone on to become the FA's Head of Elite Development working alongside Trevor Brooking. Although unlikely to leave that post, he certainly looks qualified enough to deal with the myriad of talent currently held at Palace.

Sean Dyche

Odds: 20/1

Likelihood: 6/10

Rating: 6/10

Another young manager with limited experience. Put in a good shift at Watford last season, which was to be his only one thus far after he was replaced by Gianfranco Zola due to a change in ownership. Probably a bit unfair as his Watford side had a strong season and even looked like promotion contenders at one point, finishing in a respectable 11th place. He would be an underwhelming choice but that doesn't mean to say that he' couldn't be the right one as he's unproven and is currently working with the england under-21 set up which could be beneficial.

Mick McCarthy 

Odds: 9/2

Likelihood: 7/10

Rating: 7/10

Mick McCarthy is fast becoming somewhat of a Holloway-esque cult figure in the world of Football. With his personality he also brings a wealth of experience. He's had success everywhere he's been and even had a strong World Cup campaign in 2002 with the Republic of Ireland. Sacked from Wolves last January, he has since turned down Nottingham Forest stating that only a job in the top flight would interest him. With nothing coming into fruition for the ex-Ireland international and Palace in a promising position, maybe a job in the capital could interest him.

Karl Robinson

Odds: 6/4

Likelihood: 8/10

Rating: 6.5/10

According to Paddy Power, he's currently the favourite for the job. Robinson is currently the youngest manager in the entire football league and in his two seasons in charge of the MK Dons, he's taken the Milton Keynes' outfit to the playoffs on both occasions. Would probably be quite cheap, which is something the board would be happy with and the compensation received for Freedman would surely be enough to allow Robinson to break his current contract.

Sir Steve Coppell

Odds: 15/8

Likelihood: 9/10

Rating: 9/10

Definitely the glamour pick of the bunch. With a legend leaving the club, the best option would be to replace him with another one, and they don't come much bigger than Sir Steve. This would be his fifth time at the club with which he has already achieved promotion to the Premiership with twice, bagged a Zenith Data Systems cup, finished runner up in the FA Cup and third in the old, old, Division 1 (Premiership). Undoubtedly the best times in the club's history have come under Coppell and another promotion would be the icing on the cake. A cause for concern is that when he feels he isn't up to the job, he's not against throwing in the towel prematurely like he did at Manchester City and at Bristol City where he left after just two games in charge. 

No longer walking in a Freedman wonderland

Two days ago Steve Parish had made it clear that Dougie Freedman had left the club and after two long days of negotiations, Bolton Wanderers have finally confirmed the signing of Dougie Freedman on a three and a half year contract.

Freedman ends his two and a half year reign as part of the backroom staff after having originally been given the assistant manager's job towards the end of the 2009-10 season when Palace were threatened by the prospect of relegation. He then took over as manager after a forgettable few months under George Burley and was able to steer us to safety for the third time in his footballing career.

Last season, despite a poor finish, the Freedman led the Eagles to a stunning Carling Cup run, which saw them see off Manchester United in the quarter-finals only to lose on penalties after a brave performance in the second leg at Cardiff. A great start to the season has seen Freedman become one of the most coveted managers in the Championship. With only 3 months left to run on his Palace contract, Dougie has decided to make the trip up north to start a new chapter in his managerial career.

The news still comes as quite a shock. Freedman, a club legend, seemed like he was in it for the long run. He was rebuilding Crystal Palace and had just started to assemble his own team in the style that he wanted in order to take the club in the right direction.

When the rumours emerged, most Palace fans laughed it off and I, for one, thought that there was literally a zero percent chance of him leaving us. You always do get a bit worried though when rumours are flying around but Freedman put us all at ease when he said, only last Saturday after the Millwall game, that he wasn't the type of person who leaves a job unfinished. It was all done and dusted when CPFC 2010 rejected a move for him...or so we thought. Just hours later, the board stunned everyone by accepting an improved offer after Freedman had pleaded them to accept. Everyone's red 'n' blue world was turned upside down and no one could believe what was going on. I'm sure that most people still thought that he would stay but when Steve Parish confirmed that his 'obsession for the Premiership' had made him accept Bolton's offer, it had become a reality.

Football really is a strange thing as I've never met Dougie nor have I ever even spoken to him but him leaving Palace felt like my best mate had run off with my girlfriend. I'm sure others may have felt similarly as the CPFC BBS - the main Crystal Palace forums, have gone crazy with claims that Freedman is the biggest traitor the club has ever seen and is no longer a club legend. For me he will always be a Palace legend but for the time being, I'll be hoping that Bolton have a terrible season so he realises what a mistake he has made.

A Bad Omen for Palace

On Tuesday, 23rd October , 2007, Dougie Freedman scored his last ever goal for Crystal Palace in a 3-1 loss against Stoke. Today, exactly 5 years later, might be Freedman's last day in charge of the club.

At the time of writing, there are no reports confirming that he has accepted the job at Bolton but it is sounding increasingly likely. He is supposedly the lowest paid manager in the league and has been offered a contract by the Trotters which is worth five times what he is currently on at Palace. They are also offering a three year deal providing him with the security that the Palace board have failed to show him so far. Freedman has been described as 'hard work' by Parish and there are claims that they don't see eye to eye on a couple of matters behind the scenes.

However, money isn't everything and a move to Bolton, in my opinion, would be a poor decision for Dougie. Owen Coyle was the Championship's first managerial casualty showing that they're not scared to chop and change managers when things are going badly. At the Reebok, he won't start with the legendary status that he currently has here at Palace and will have to impress straight away, something which is always a tough ask when taking over a struggling side. Whereas at Palace, even after just 3 wins in 27 matches, he had most of the fans' full support and he even attributed the turnaround in form to the amazing support the team had received during those bleak times.

Futhermore, as a young manager who is still learning his trade, it would surely be the right move to stay at a club where you're settled and doing well. Then, once you've finally had a couple of years experience and achieved all you can with the club, you make a move up the footballing ladder. He's been telling the press recently about Wilfried Zaha saying that he's not ready for a move to the Premiership and that he'll let him go when he's learnt all that he's learnt from Palace. I feel the same thing applies to Dougie and he has the perfect chance now with an in-form team just one win off the top spot and a £12 million rated starlet who has been consistently unplayable. I'm sure most Palace fans wouldn't begrudge him a move to the Premiership as those sorts of opportunities don't come around often but a move to a lacklustre Bolton side is at the very most a sideways move.

This news could rock the Eagles and break their phenomenal unbeaten run. Palace face a tough trip up to Barnsley tonight and despite already being without Zaha, who picked up a one match ban receiving a fifth yellow card at Millwall, it has been confirmed that Dougie will also miss the game as he is in talks with his potential suitors. In several matches so far this season, Zaha has been the only player to make a difference and it will certainly be a tricky tie against a Barnsley side who has been quietly improving over the last few seasons. Things are looking bad for both tonight and the future for Crystal Palace.

Welcome to There's No Loyalty in Football

Welcome to one of the many sports blogs that spring up every day. This blog is mainly going to focus on current events in the world of football (or soccer to all my international readers) but will also hopefully contain bits and bobs from other sports.

I'm a passionate Crystal Palace fan and despite currently residing in Bristol, I have managed to attend all but one of our league games so far and am planning to keep up my run of good form. Sadly for most of you, this blog is going to be mainly based on Crystal Palace news as after spending a year abroad in both Spain and Brazil, I've only really had time to keep up to date with Palace news. However, after a few weeks of  Match of the Day, I'm sure I'll be up to date in no time and not only pondering matters about Palace.

I'm currently in my final year at university studying Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Bristol.
While everyone else is attending career events, wondering which international marketing superpower grad-scheme they're going to apply for I've been at Wolves away watching the Eagles mount an inspired comeback led by one of our treasured academy products. Although the academic year has only just started, with all this careers talk, I've realised that if sport isn't somehow not part of my job then I'm probably not going to lead a very fulfilled life. Hence the blog and hopefully the start of a budding career in sports journalism, fingers crossed anyways and I'm hoping that I don't just give up after 2 weeks!

The name of the blog is a fairly depressing one, but then again following a football team can give you lows as well as highs. The reason behind it is that our manager, club legend Dougie Freedman, who has led us to within 2 points of the top of the Championship, has just been allowed to enter into talks about the vacant managerial spot at the Reebok.

Dougie claimed only a few days ago that he wasn't the sort of person who leaves a job half done and his love for the club cannot be questioned. Tomorrow we'll know more about the subject but for the moment, there will be many Palace fans praying that the man, who's saved us plenty of times before, doesn't ditch us and prove the name of this blog right.

Please Dougie...stay!