Risking accusations of being naive and old-fashioned, I was dazed and a little dismayed to see Dougie Freedman leave Palace for Bolton. The whole episode leaves me slightly shell-shocked and posing lots of uncomfortable questions such as is there any loyalty left in football?
As a player Dougie was one of our best of the last few decades and he was showing promise as a thoughtful, yet inexperienced manager. Freedman had been quoted only a week ago talking of his need to finish the task he had undertaken at Selhurst and not being someone who left things halfway through. He also had made a big thing about convincing the young stars such as Wilfred Zaha to stay to ensure a proper grounding before moving on to a bigger club. What price Zaha now?
No disrespect to Bolton but one wonders exactly what he is going to achieve by this move apart from a more lucrative contract (for which he cannot be blamed). The reason quoted for this move was that Palace could not match the ambition of Bolton, is this really the case? Surely most half-decent Championship clubs have ambition to reach the Premiership and although Bolton have only just come down after a dozen years at the top table (and have the considerable financial cushion of parachute payments), are they really more ambitious or just a tad more desperate?
When the dust finally settles, maybe there will be a logical explanation and at present the only one that makes any sense is that there was a fundamental disagreement between Dougie and the board over future direction, but why has that only just materialised?
I look forward to some answers eventually but who knows will there be more questions in the meantime?
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