Sam Allardyce Announces Retirement After Parting Ways with Crystal Palace

Sam Allardyce left his post as Crystal Palace manager on Tuesday and said in a club statement he has "no ambitions to take another job."

The Palace website announced the surprise news that Allardyce was departing just five months after he succeeded Alan Pardew in the manager's role.

Allardyce said: "I will always be grateful to Crystal Palace and Steve Parish for giving me the opportunity to go out with my head held high having helped keep the club in the Premier League. More than that, they gave me a chance of rebuilding my reputation after what happened with England. ...

"I want to be able to savour life while I'm still relatively young and when I'm still relatively healthy enough to do all the things I want to do, like travel, spend more time with my family and grandchildren without the huge pressure that comes with being a football manager. This is the right time for me. I have no ambitions to take another job."             

The Eagles were just a point above the Premier League relegation zone when the former England manager took over in December.

Palace ended the season seven points clear of the drop, having beaten the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool in the second half of the campaign.

Per Dominic Fifield in the Guardian, Allardyce, 62, penned a £2.5 million-a-year deal to 2019 when he joined Palace.

Before the announcement, the Daily Mail's Matt Lawton reported Allardyce was unhappy he did not get the assurances he wanted from Palace chairman Parish about transfer funds and strengthening the squad this summer, so he decided to call time on his brief Selhurst Park career.

The Palace job was Allardyce's first managerial post following his ill-fated 67-day tenure in charge of England, which ended after an undercover newspaper sting in September.