Is Big Sam Set To Leave The Palace?

A change of managerial circumstances in the Premier League are like no London buses. you wait ages for one and then two nearly come around at once. Watford sacked Walter Mazzarri after a miserable end to the season while David Moyes walked away from Sunderland after an even more turgid campaign on Wearside.

That is now two clubs that will be looking for a new manager over the course of the Summer but could we be looking at a third with reports that Sam Allardyce is prepared to call time on his stint at Crystal Palace after just five months.

Like his work at Sunderland last season when he made sure that Sunderland beat the drop once again he managed to produce the same feat at Selhurt Park after taking over from previous incumbent Alan Pardew at the end of last year.

With Palace securing survival on the penultimate week of the season their trip to Old Trafford last Sunday was something of a dead rubber for both themselves and Manchester United but that said a win for Palace would have given them a 12th place finish and a few millions more in prize money.

As it is, Palace had to make do with a 14th place finish in the end, although ask any of their fans and they would have been delighted with that especially with their position looking somewhat precarious in the last days of Alan Pardew’s stewardship.

And with their top flight status secured Palace fans would not doubt  be looking forward to a Summer ahead where the former England boss Allardyce would be lining up potential transfer targets to not only build on the squad but to also make sure that the South London club are not in a relegation scrap next season.

But this is where things could all fall down as it seems as if a meeting between Allardyce and club chairman Steve Parrish did not go according to plan. Part of the discussion would have been in regards to the transfer budget for next season, something that Allardyce considers pivotal to staying in charge of the club.

Allardyce has not been promised the budget that he feels is necessary to make sure Palace are not once again looking over their shoulders next season and due to that it is believed that this will be enough for the 62 year old to quit the club.

If that does prove to be the case then it will no doubt be a huge disappointment to everyone connected to Palace as they will now feel that they are back to square one again. But Allardyce is an incredibly head strong character and if he feels he cannot be given the tools to do the best possible job then it may well be a job not worth doing.

Palace only require a few more additions to their starting eleven to see them kick on a level but it is the refusal from Parrish to really open the purse strings which has frustrated Allardyce and could the reluctance to free up founds prove to be all the more costly.

If Palace and Big Sam do part company then they will do so on amicable terms although it will be a huge blow to the club as the opportunity to really build a platform will once again be spurned and a new man will have to start from scratch in the off season.

Should Sam Allardyce become a free agent then his stock will certainly be on the rise after the damage that the England debacle did for him at the start of last season. It could also put the likes of Watford on high alert to acquire his services, it looks the managerial merry go round could soon be in full swing.