April 18 2003

Kit Symons

Kit Symons has said that the Palace players must take some responsibility for the departure of Trevor Francis.

The Eagles have only won three Nationwide League games since the beginning of the year, despite a promising start to the season and two good cup runs.

Symons believes Francis carried the can for the players.

He said: "If things don't go well the manager often carries the responsibility, but results have been poor and everyone has got to accept their own amount of responsibility for that. You're judged by your results.

"We were all shocked. No-one saw it coming. There had been a lot of talk about road maps and clear-outs but we all thought Trevor was a part of that.

"He seemed down when he told us. He was feeling it a bit. I think all the players would wish him all the best."

Francis took training for the last time today before being given the bad news face-to-face by Jordan.

He then summoned the players for a brief meeting where he wished them well, shook their hands, thanked them, and walked out.