I thought Christmas had come early my Eagles. Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew was sacked just before gift-giving day due to the team's unbelievably pathetic performance in 2016. Out of the entire 92 teams in the football league, Palace are dead last in points won per game. Even with Pardew's charisma and confidence, the management simply couldn't allow it to continue. It seemed inevitable that he would go. I actually witnessed his apparent demise during my short visit to training last week. On completion of a practice game, the players huddled around their manager hoping to hear some brilliant new tip or morale boosting monologue. Sadly all Pardew said was "You missed a few goals there guys. You will need to score more than that against Chelsea tomorrow." Very cerebral Alan!
Our new boss: the controversial ex-England manager Sam Allardyce who stood down with only 67 days in the role after he offered advice on how to "get around rules" for player transfers. We have played two games since he started and have won one and drawn one. However, the loss today was against Arsenal who no one expected us to beat. It is the next five or six games that are crucial. We play teams near the bottom of the league and it is now that we will discover if we have what it takes to stay in the Premier League. We play Swansea this Tuesday at 2pm.
The Austin Eagles need your support now more than ever. It is time to come good on that New Years resolution I know you must have made to spend less time with your family and dedicate every spare minute of 2017 to our little club.
Come on you Palace.
