Former Crystal Palace owner and chairman Simon Jordan thinks that the club appointing Swansea City boss Steve Cooper would be a massive risk.
The past few days have been something of a rollercoaster for the Eagles, as it had looked as if former Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo was on the verge of being appointed at Selhurst Park, only for the deal to collapse very late in proceedings, leaving Palace still on the lookout for a new man in the dugout.
Swansea City boss Cooper has been linked with the job, with TalkSport reporter Alex Crook claiming this week that “possibly, all roads for Crystal Palace now lead to Steve Cooper” given the current state of the manager merry-go-round.
But as heard on the TalkSport Daily podcast, Jordan felt that bringing in a man from the Championship goes against the grain of what Palace have done in recent years and could represent a huge risk for them:
“Obviously ever since they’ve got promoted back, they’ve gone, with the exception of a four-game stint with [Frank] De Boer, they’ve gone for established Premier League managers. Whether you like them or you loathe them, [Tony] Pulis, [Alan] Pardew, Sam Allardyce, Roy Hodgson have all come in and said ‘right, steady hands, know what we’re doing, know to get this where we need to get it.’
“Taking a guy from the Championship that has great credentials to manage young players and had to manage Swansea under difficult circumstances because I think they were selling a lot of players from underneath him, and not giving them a lot of resources, is a risk for Palace.
“Managing Swansea in the Championship and being very good at developing young players is very different to managing in the Premier League when it’s the business end of elite players.”
TIF Thoughts on Simon Jordan’s comments about Steve Cooper and Crystal Palace…
Would you be happy with Steve Cooper at Selhurst Park?
No
Yes
There certainly is an element of risk involved, but as his Swansea predecessor Graham Potter showed, it is possible to make that jump up a division and still be somewhat stable.
And as Jordan points out, the circumstances at Swansea were difficult when it came to selling players, with the likes of Dan James leaving before he could get a chance to manage him, Oli McBurnie sold just two months into his tenure, and Joe Rodon leaving last summer.
So if Palace can offer him some level of stability in the transfer market, after this summer’s rather chaotic window for them is over of course, then it might offer Cooper a chance to prove himself at a higher level and maybe push Crystal Palace up the league.
In other news: ‘Someone I was advocating’ – Simon Jordan reacts as CPFC manager claim emerges