Crystal Palace chief Steve Parish has explained the sacking of Alan Pardew.
The Crystal Palace chairman says he told Pardew a change was needed and that the former Eagles chief took the decision like a gentleman.
When asked how hard it was dismissing a manager with whom he got on so well and if, in hindsight, he waited too long to come to that decision, he told the Croydon Advertiser: "You never know. I felt Alan was unlucky in some ways.
"So many games could have gone slightly differently. He's a good man and it's a very difficult thing to sack anybody in life.
"Football managers are well remunerated, they kind of know it comes with the job.
"And he's a gentleman as well, so when we had the conversation he didn't make it difficult. He knows it's a results-based business and these things can happen.
"And I don't run away from these things. I have seen all this stuff. It was the Americans. It's all nonsense.
"I felt it was time for a change. That's what I told him. I didn't say 'oh [it's] other people, I love you mate'. They're the decisions I have to make.
"That's what I've done from day one when I walked in. From sacking George Burley, I've made every decision about this football club. I'm not frightened of saying that."