Palace axe De Boer after poor start, Benitez gets boost
LONDON: Crystal Palace yesterday sacked manager Frank de Boer after a dismal start to the Premier League season that has seen them lose all four of their matches without scoring a single goal.
“Crystal Palace Football Club have this morning parted company with Frank de Boer,” said a statement on the club’s website.
“We would like to thank Frank for his dedication and hard work during his time at the club.
“A new manager will be appointed in due course and we wish Frank the very best of luck for the future.”
The south London club have been strongly linked with a move to appoint former England boss Roy Hodgson to replace the departing Dutch manager.
Palace chairman Steve Parish on Sunday took to Twitter to rally fans around the team, without giving unequivocal backing to the former Ajax and Inter Milan boss.
In an exchange with supporters on social media following Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at Burnley, Parish wrote: “People are frustrated, I’m frustrated, so are the management and players. We know we are better than this...”
Parish also wrote: “We are 4 games in, it’s a terrible start but we have to stick together.”
Meanwhile, Newcastle gave ailing boss Rafael Benitez a boost with their 1-0 win at Swansea.
Benitez was forced to miss Newcastle’s trip to south Wales while he recovered from an infection, but they made light of his absence. The Spaniard had a surgery last Monday to address an infection resulting from an earlier hernia operation.
RESULTS
Burnley 1 (Wood 3) Crystal Palace 0 Swansea 0 Newcastle 1 (Lascelles 76)