Did he walk or was he pushed? Ian Holloway reflects on his abrupt departure as Palace manager

                                                                        

Full of anecdotes and advice - the new book 

"I had a pittance of a pay-off -  and I mean a pittance . . .

So says former Palace manager Ian Holloway who was in charge of the club during the greater part of their 2012-13 promotion season and for the start of their subsequent campaign in the top tier.

The consensus at the time was that Holloway had left of his own volition, blaming stress and burn-out, following a 4-1 home defeat (October 21, 2013) to Fulham - the seventh reverse in eight outings.

But in his new book, Holloway rejects "the old 'mutual consent' explanation".

He insists: "I was sacked."

Holloway goes on to say that, before leaving, he raised the  subject of a pay-off  with club chairman (Steve Parish).

He said the pair had shaken hands on what he thought had been an agreement on a target he claimed to have achieved.

But he received short shrift from the chairman who rejected the request, telling the manager he should have had something in writing.

Holloway says he responded thus: "I told him I had trusted him to do the right thing, but there was nothing I could do.

"He was right - it was my fault and nobody else's and, in business, people don't work on trust."

Not that there seems to have been any lingering bad feeling between the two thereafter.

Holloway says he helped the chairman to identify his own replacement (Tony Pulis) who took the reins a month later after a caretaker spell by assistant manager Keith Millen. 

The appointment was a success. "It really worked for them and he took them up the table fairly quickly."

Holloway concludes with a generous word for Parish: "In fairness to my former chairman, what he's done with the club up to the present day is fantastic." 

How To Be A Football Manager is full of anecdotes (and words of advice) about Holloway's four decades in football as a player, manager and pundit.

Published by Headline Publishing at £22, it is available wherever books are sold.