Palace would've been "negligent" by giving de Boer time, says chairman

Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish believes it would have been negligent not to sack Frank de Boer, although he understands criticism of the swift decision.

De Boer was given just four Premier League games in charge at Selhurst Park - resulting in four defeats without a goal scored by the Eagles - before he was replaced by Roy Hodgson last week.

And while Parish acknowledged the former Ajax and Inter coach was not given long, he feels it was clear that things were not going to plan.

"Obviously results weren't good, and I can understand people saying that four games wasn't enough," he told Holmesdale Radio.

"But Frank was here from July 1 and, in the end, I didn't think it was going to work. It could have gone on longer but, if that then produced the outcomes I thought it was going to, that kind of makes me negligent.

"You know what you open yourself up for when you make that change, but I can't let that make the decision.

"The decision has to be 'what is the bigger picture and is this going to improve' - and based on two-and-a-half months, not just four games, I didn't think it would work and I regret that.

"I regret the fact that it didn't work for Frank or the football club, but I felt I had to make that change."

Palace took their time to appoint De Boer after Sam Allardyce quit the club at the end of last season, and Parish believes that ultimately worked against the club.

"It was the one we had the most time for and possibly almost agonised over it too much and it kind of became muddled thinking," he continued.

"Because we took too long, we lost some options as well. It is difficult to talk too much about what went on in that period and the thinking, but Frank impressed me when I met him and we talked a lot about what we were and the time I felt it would take to change.

"It wasn't because we didn't think about it; perhaps we thought about it too much and maybe there was a bit of a disconnect about what could be achieved in the time.

"That's not about spending money, just about the league being very different. What Frank thought he could achieve in a short space of time wasn't going to happen."