November 30 2001

Trevor Francis

Trevor Francis has been officially announced as the new manager of Crystal Palace.

He takes over from Steve Bruce who walked out on the club four weeks ago. Francis was sacked by Birmingham in October and as Bruce looks to eventually become the new Birmingham boss, it completes a remarkable managerial swap.

But Bruce must serve a nine-month notice period before he is allowed to go to St Andrews, although a compensation fee agreed between the two clubs may mean he could go sooner.

Simon Jordan said: "Trevor has a wealth of experience and knowledge of the First Division and a record that is second to none outside the Premiership.

"We look forward to resuming our progress to the Premier League."

Francis will hope to stop the run of three defeats against league leaders Burnley tomorrow.

He said: "At the start of the season, Crystal Palace weren't one of the teams I thought would be in the top four or five. But they're there on merit and Palace are good enough to be in the top six.

"They're in a tough spell at the moment, but I'm going to the training ground to meet the players for the first time today and the Burnley game tomorrow is a good match for me to start with.

"I'll be making an assessment of the team and will discuss with my coaches - Steve Kember and Terry Bullivant - what we feel is necessary to build on a good start."