Championship bosses Steve Cooper and Valerien Ismael are both ahead of Frank Lampard on Crystal Palace’s managerial hitlist, as reported by the Sun (19 May, page 51).
On Monday night, two of the frontrunners to replace Roy Hodgson at Selhurst Park went head-to-head in the play-off semi-finals.
And, thanks to a moment of magic from the mercurial Andre Ayew, it was Cooper’s well-drilled Swansea City side who got the better of Ismael’s up-and-at-’em Barnsley, a side so relentlessly direct they would make Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds look like Louis van Gaal-era Manchester United.
Former Chelsea boss and bona fide Premier League legend Frank Lampard may be perhaps the most high-profile candidate for the vacant Crystal Palace job.
But, according to the Sun, he is certainly not the number one choice.
Palace chairman Steve Parish will wait and see how the play-offs pan out before making a move for either Cooper or Ismael, both of whom are right at the top of the club’s wish list.
Of course, should Swansea or Barnsley seal promotion to the Premier League, it is very unlikely that either Cooper or Ismael would walk away from their current clubs to take over a Crystal Palace side planning a major rebuilding project on a shoestring budget.
The long-term absence of Ebere Eze, Palace’s most influential creative talent, doesn’t exactly make Selhurst Park a more tempting destination either.
Interestingly, Ismael is a former Crystal Palace player. Having said that, he is not exactly fondly remembered by the Eagles faithful, his 13-game spell in 1998 going down in legend for all the wrong reasons.
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