It's interesting because there's clearly a story here. Parish is rightly big on promoting from within, and I believe when PV was hired having an existing member of the club coaching team was more or less imposed on him so I don't imagine if Derry was fired, it would have been done without a good reason. And if he left voluntarily because he has a manager's job or something else lined up, you'd usually say that; "one of our coaches is moving up the career ladder" is broadly good publicity. So you have to think there's an "adverse" story somewhere in here somewhere. Plus, as I said, Derry has a history of being a man who does things his own way.

TBH, on a personal level I'll miss him because I like continuity in the club and I always liked Derry as a player. But I'm inclined to think from a pure coaching standpoint, it's no great loss. And I presume that's how PV feels too, as we haven't had the obligatory press release thanking Derry for his services, and noting how much he'd contributed to the club. Possibly even, we've weeded out a bad apple.

What I do think is, as I've said before, things were going stale. We've looked out of sorts for some weeks now. We needed a shake-up and some refreshing...needed it badly...and two new players and presumably a new voice in the coaching team if Derry is going to be replaced is in my view, a good start and no bad thing. I'll be interested to see if we push on and show a little more life over the next few weeks.

If I remember correctly when Vieira joined Derry was the under 21 manager and McCarthy took the under 18s.
It was Vieira who requested that Derry joined the first team set up to have a Palace presence in the setup, and McCarthy subsequently took the under 21 position.
It’s unclear what Derry’s role has been as he seems to have been a bit of a ‘bibs and cones’ man in the training videos and on match days.
He never seemed to have a prominent coaching role , but he was a strong character in his playing days so he may have had more of a presence behind the scenes.
It may be helpful if the club make a statement to avoid the inevitable speculation , in particular as he’s a popular figure with the fans who remember Hillsborough amongst Derry’s other achievements for the club.

I would imagine that thought has crossed the minds of many of us on here. It certainly has mine. It's a great shout. Does anyone know if JM is doing his badges?