Alan Pardew's job as Crystal Palace manager is safe despite his less-than-welcome remarks about the club's American investors, according to chairman Steve Parish.
After losing six league matches on the bounce, the pressure on Pardew had been increasing exponentially until last Saturday's 3-0 triumph over Southampton at Selhurst Park - a result that lifted Palace three points clear of the drop zone.
Pardew and Parish exchanged 'thumbs up' gestures following the Eagles' third goal in the match at the weekend and, in quotes published by the Daily Mail, Parish publicly backed his under-fire boss to come good now that the rot was over.
He said: "It's totally safe (Pardew's position) in that every manager is under pressure. It's a binary industry and you have to win football matches. Alan knows the game, we want him to succeed. He's a positive force around the club."
Parish was also forced to downplay comments made by Pardew in the immediate aftermath of the victory over the Saints, after the former Newcastle manager appeared to criticise some of the club's investors.
Pardew had passive aggressively suggested that a number of shareholders at Palace - particularly those from the USA - were not clued up over what football was all about.
#PremierLeague Alan Pardew's job at Crystal Palace is safe for now after chairman Steve Parish gives boss his¦ https://t.co/yxPh5UXaYx
Pardew had stated: We have a lot of serious investors at the club who perhaps don't know a lot about football, so the Chairman has been defending me this week.
It's hard to dress up six defeats when you are the owner of a club where you have investors.�
Parish, though, rebuffed claims that Pardew had lashed out at the likes of co-owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer with his observation before going on to quantify the 55-year-old's remarks in a more pleasant fashion.
He added: "Josh, David and I are very close. Alan speaks to them regularly as well ” we have just been to America ” so we all knew where we were.
"We have some smaller shareholders and we went out to a dinner with them the week before and a lot of them kept saying to Alan that they don't know a lot about football."
Palace face a crunch clash away to Hull City at the weekend, before taking on Manchester United and Chelsea in back-to-back home games ahead of the festive fixture period.
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