May 8 2001

Coppell - warning to Jordan

Former Eagles boss Steve Coppell has slammed chairman Simon Jordan saying he should keep out of the dressing room.

Coppell said Jordan has to stay in the boardroom if he doesn't want a repeat of what happened over the past few weeks when The Palace narrowly escaped relegation from Division One.

The former Manchester United and England player left the club in pre-season and blamed Jordan's meddling in team affairs for his departure.

Coppell said: "My advice would be to put key people in charge then leave it to them. There's no place for a chairman in the dressing room.

"Simon Jordan is verbally very, very aggressive and it rubs people up the wrong way. I found it oppressive and had to leave."

Meanwhile, a number of Palace players' contracts are set to expire over the next few months.

The club are still to have talks with the players about renewing their deals.

The following players' contracts finish on June 30 2001: Jonathon Boardman, Roscoe Dsane, Michael Fowler, Andrew Frampton, Gareth Gwillim, Sean Hankin, James Hibburt, Richard Howell, Stephen Hunt, Stephen Kabba, Robert Kember, Simon Rodger, Jamie Smith, Steve Thomson and Ronnie Walsh.