Sam Allardyce confirmed as Crystal Palace's new manager

The former England manager returns to football two months after his controversial departure from the national team following a newspaper sting

Sam Allardyce will make his return to football at Crystal Palace after agreeing a two-and-a-half year deal to take charge of the Selhurst Park club.

Allardyce, who was dismissed as England manager after just 67 days in September has been installed as Alan Pardew’s successor after agreeing a deal worth around £2.5 million per year that will run until 2019.

The 62-year-old will take charge of the team at Watford on Monday when he will begin the task of steering the club away from the lower reaches of the table following a dismal run that has brought eight defeats in the last ten games.

Allardyce’s qualities had attracted the attention of the Palace hierarchy last month and talks were concluded at the club’s training ground yesterday. Allardyce’s brief stint with England was brought to an end when the manager was filmed speaking to undercover reporters about the third party ownership of players but has been given the all clear to continue working in football and his record of turning bthe fortunes of clubs around, most recently at Sunderland last season, convinced chairman Steve Parish he was the right man for the job.

“You generally get a new job when there are difficulties at the club and it’s my job to try and get a few more result on the board over Christmas and January to make everybody feel a little more comfortable. Recently Palace has been very impressive the way the club has grown and held their Premier league status. I hope I can bring some joy between now and the end of the season.

“The club itself seems to be very ambitious and I like the look of the squad and that’s the reason I am here. The club can forward from here and I can help take it forward. I’m looking forward to working with the forward players but I’ve got a job stopping the goals going in the other end first. We have to stop conceding goals and making sure the goals we score win us games. That’s what we have to try and turn around.

“January is a difficult window. We will look at who is available but we also have to protect the players we have got. But certainly we will try and recruit and give the squad more strength in depth. I think the players are good enough but hopefully we add more depth.”

He added: “First and foremost we have to stop losing and if the draws turn into results and we can go on a run we can hopefully find a run of consistency.”