Whilst reading some of the positive comments about Roy Hodgson on another thread it struck me that it really doesn't take too much for a manager to become a potential CPFC managerial 'legend', or at least to be a serious contender for a place in our all time best top five.

Number one on the list is of course taken, most likely forever, by Steve Coppell (after whom the new stand absolutely must be named in my opinion) but after that there are fairly few obvious contenders.

We have quite a reasonable list to pick from when considering our five best ever players, but if you try to make a top five of managers it becomes quite hard work pretty quickly, which probably says quite a bit in itself.

Even so, who is your (second) greatest ever manager, and why?

Most of my nominations have some sort of black mark against their names which cancel out their achievements to some extent:

Freedman - Built a great side for a pittance in the championship which went on to get promoted and form the foundation for staying there (so far). Also buggered off to Bolton.

Dowie - Injected life into a corpse when he came in, created fantastic momentum which ended in promotion, and came a goal away from keeping us up. Then left to be 'closer to his family in the Northwest', which he achieved by managing Charlton.

Pulis - Easy to forget how dead in the water the team was when he came in. Rightly awarded League Manager of the Year for keeping us up, not only was this a near-miracle in itself, it was also the key to everything that the club has become since. Then walked out on the eve of the season leaving us in the lurch, lied to the club to get a load of money, and had to be dragged through the Courts where he was found, in no uncertain terms, to have acted with the utmost disdain for CPFC.

Any other ideas?

Edited by TheBigToePunt (14 Dec 2017 1.59pm)

I'm gonna jump in with Lombardo. Love him!

I would state the case for Allison for the changes he made to the club, but that is more akin to stamping his mark a lot like the legacy SP is stamping on Selhurst and CPFC right now.

I wish I new more about Bert Head, but it is well before my time. I'd have to go with either Dowie or Smith as they got us promoted, but then I really don't like either of them. Might as well suggest Pardew.

Can I vote for Millen or Ray?

So I manage a Workshop which provides a safe learning environment for blokes struggling with PTSD and other mental health issues. Being a Palace fan isn't listed yet.

Steve Bruce.

"We love you Palace, we f@cking hate Man U, We love you Palace, we hate the brighton too, We love you Palace we play in red 'n' blue, so f@ck you, and you ...

Edmund Goodman

Malcolm, all day

If its judged on achievement only and working on the minutest of budgets-pretty much get the best out of what you have and ignore the negative circumstances of his departure, like or loathe him you'd have to say Terry Vennables was probably our best ever manager first time around.
Took on a struggling team, introduced youth prospects, got back to back promotions AND kept us in the top division (at one point for about 3 weeks we actually led the top division!)
No one had done that before. Only Coppell has done it since. Yes of course he quit Palace for QPR and took half our team with him which resulted in us tumbling down the league. He claims that was Raymond Bloye squeezing him out. Whatever, water under the bridge. But in terms of achievements, for me? Has to be Vennables