Alan Pardew has given next Crystal Palace manager the tools to succeed despite grim 2016

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Tom Dutton23 December 2016

"That's not us," said Alan Pardew after Crystal Palace conceded a late winner from a set-piece against Manchester City in November.

The Palace boss rolled out a similar line after dead-ball errors cost his side against Liverpool in October and prompted a chorus of the club's fans to bite back on social media: "It is!"

Well-documented their defensive woes may be, but Palace went into November's trip to Swansea having conceded a Premier League-high nine goals from set-pieces, and the Swans added four to that tally as the Eagles slipped to a sixth straight loss.

And if the protests of Palace supporters weren't evidence enough against Pardew's claims, the statistics which continued to pile up against him in the final weeks of his Palace tenure called his bluff.

Chief among those being that Palace had won just six Premier League matches across 2016, with three coming on the trot in one of Pardew's customary purple patches during September.

In truth, Pardew's curious knack of carrying teams through periods of peaks and troughs went some way to explaining his ability to evade Steve Parish's axe for so long. While the good spells were fleeting and few in number, they arrived just when it seemed the end was nigh.

Parish's thirst for stability after presiding over seven permanent managers since helping save the club from liquidation in 2010 also kept Pardew from the sack, perhaps against the co-owner's better judgment. Meanwhile, the role of Palace's FA Cup run in keeping Pardew in the hot seat shouldn't be underplayed.

“I cannot imagine that anybody with any logic would consider there should be any pressure,” Parish told Standard Sport in April.

Palace were winless in 14 at that stage, but their progression to the FA Cup semi-final had perhaps caused the club's hierarchy to brush over their change of focus in the League from Champions League to Championship.

And while fans might sneer, Palace were level on points with title-chasing Tottenham on Christmas Day last season, only to stave off relegation with a narrow win over Stoke on the penultimate weekend of the campaign.

Indeed, it has been bleak for some time at Selhurst Park, but it would be unfair not to recognise Pardew's reign was punctuated by moments of hope.

Tasked with establishing the club as a Premier League force, he first steadied a ship left plummeting towards the second tier by Neil Warnock, and then set about putting the building blocks in place.

Yohan Cabaye's arrival marked the first major step forward before the subsequent form in the first half of last season won the investment of American billionaires Josh Harris and David Blitzer.

With the improved TV money adding further financial clout, Palace entered the transfer market this past summer a renewed force and Pardew secured his legacy with a spree of impressive captures.

While the Eagles spent big, the arrivals of Christian Benteke, Andros Townsend and Steve Mandanda in particular had pundits cooing over the club's prospects with a charge into Europe mooted.

For many in south London, this anticipation was met with a sense of caution. After all, years spent jostling for position among the Championship's mid-performers, home thumpings from Scunthorpe, the club's entire existence on the line - all this was too fresh in the memory.

Why would world-class internationals chose to each commit a significant portion of their numbered playing days to Palace, playing at an awkwardly-assembled, unremarkable ground north of Croydon?

It would be naive to suggest wage packets didn't play a role, but Pardew assumed full control of transfers at Palace and must be credited with luring big names to Selhurst. In a perverse sense, their arrivals alone should do more for the club's long-term ambition than performances on the pitch.

Relegation, of course, would decimate that theory, and the new boss must first seek to steer the club clear of the top flight trap door.

But thanks to Pardew, he'll have the tools to do it.

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