Crystal Palace chief in plea to fans: Stop moaning about Steve Parish and Neil Warnock

Crystal Palace fans have been urged to stop criticising co-chairman Steve Parish after the appointment of Neil Warnock as manager.

Supporters are angry with Parish after Tony Pulis, who dragged the team out of the relegation zone to a final position of 11th, quit as boss on the eve of the new season.

Warnock was rehired after plans for Malky Mackay collapsed when he was caught up in a text scandal at his previous club, Cardiff, but Parish’s fellow co-chairman Stephen Browett is adamant that the right man is in the hot seat.

Browett said: “People need to trust his [Parish] judgement. He has got everything spot on so far. If anyone is doubting the Warnock appointment then just go back to the internet posters when Tony got the job — it was the same then. Steve was accused of going mad.

“Steve works incredibly hard for Palace and refuses to be rushed into anything. He just doesn’t do spur of the moment. As soon as Tony left us he spent all his time interviewing and taking advice from people within the game. He talked to me and [co-chairmen] Martin Long and Jeremy Hosking about what we think and then he came to the right decision.

“Steve is tough as old boots and very thick-skinned. He has thought long and hard who he wanted as manager before coming to this conclusion. He has got the full backing of the rest of us.

“The internet is so immediate. Unfortunately, if half a dozen people really shout loudly online, then it gets to be seen as serious opinion, whereas we’ve got 25,000 people in our stadium on a matchday. The people on messageboards or Twitter are a very small proportion of our total fanbase.

“Steve is 24 hours a day thinking, breathing, eating and working for the good of Palace. If it hadn’t been for Steve then the consortium would never have got together and the club would never have been saved. We wouldn’t now be in the Premier League.”

Warnock made a good start to his second spell in charge of Palace, earning a point at Newcastle. Browett feels he is a natural successor to Pulis and told South London Press: “He is a sensible fit. Neil is very, very experienced and is not a million miles away from Tony Pulis in management style and experience.

“We didn’t want radical change from what we had under Tony. With the group of lads we’ve got and the fantastic team spirit there, it was really important to have as little disruption as possible — albeit that when a manager walks out two days before the season starts it is impossible to have no disruption.”