Frank de Boer sacked by Crystal Palace after just FOUR matches in charge

Crystal Palace have sacked manager Frank de Boer.

The Eagles became the first side in Premier League history to lose their opening four fixtures without scoring a goal and De Boer paid the price, with his three-year deal terminated after a mere 77 days in charge.

They lost 1-0 at Burnley yesterday and are now second bottom of the table.

A club statement on Monday read: ‘Crystal Palace Football Club have this morning parted company with Frank de Boer.

‘We would like to thank Frank for his dedication and hard work during his time at the Club.

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‘A new manager will be appointed in due course and we wish Frank the very best of luck for the future.

‘There will be no further comment at this time.’

Former England manager Roy Hodgson has been heavily linked with the job and could be unveiled as soon as tomorrow morning.

A club statement read: “Crystal Palace Football Club have this morning parted company with Frank de Boer.

“We would like to thank Frank for his dedication and hard work during his time at the club.

“A new manager will be appointed in due course and we wish Frank the very best of luck for the future.

“There will be no further comment at this time.”

De Boer said: “I am very disappointed about the decision but never the less I want to thank the players, staff and the fans for their support. Good luck for the future.”

Despite an improved performance against Burnley, whose goal was gifted to Chris Wood after an awful back-pass from Lee Chung-yong, Palace felt a new appointment was needed ahead of a difficult run of fixtures.

On Saturday they host Southampton before league games against Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea in the coming weeks. De Boer had overseen losses to Huddersfield, Liverpool and Swansea prior to the latest setback at Turf Moor. De Boer’s only competitive win came against Ipswich in the Carabao Cup.

His departure from the club follows a similarly short stint at Inter Milan, who sacked him only 85 days after his appointment.

The 47-year-old had been at Selhurst Park for only 77 days after succeeding Sam Allardyce, and while that remains longer than the shortest term for any Premier League manager – Les Reed’s 40 days at Charlton – he oversaw two fewer games.

Amid his disappointing results he also had little good fortune. Wilfried Zaha has been injured since the opening day of the season, while the equally promising Ruben Loftus-Cheek was unavailable to play on Sunday.

Similarly to Lee’s back pass, in last month’s 2-0 home defeat by Swansea, the game was goalless when James Tomkins suffered an injury shooting on goal, and his replacement Martin Kelly significantly contributed to the visitors’ goals.

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Yahoo Sport also understands, incidentally, that Hodgson had been approached about replacing Alan Pardew when Allardyce was appointed last December. The 70-year-old has been out of management since resigning as England manager after their elimination by Iceland at Euro 2016.

In response to criticism following the Burnley defeat, club chairman Steve Parish wrote on Twitter: “People are frustrated, I’m frustrated, so are the management and players. We know we are better than this…”

De Boer had said after the loss at Burnley: “I am disappointed about the result but I am not disappointed about how we played. This is the starting point, because usually if you create that many chances against any opponent you will get what you deserve.

“What we showed gives us a lot of hope for the future.

“I am just focusing on what I can control and so are my staff and my players. (The future) is for other people to decide but while I’m the manager of Crystal Palace I will give 100 per cent.”