Football | Crystal Palace fires De Boer after four Premier League losses

Frank de Boer

Crystal Palace fired manager Frank de Boer yesterday after the team opened the Premier League season with four straight losses.

Palace announced the end of De Boer’s 77-day stint in charge in a short statement , without announcing a replacement. British media reported that former England coach Roy Hodgson, who is 70, was in line to take over.

In terms of games played, De Boer’s tenure is the shortest of any permanent manager in Premier League history.

De Boer, a former Netherlands center back, took over at Palace in June as a replacement for Sam Allardyce and tried to implement a more expansive style of play.

His players have struggled to adapt. Palace is the first team since 1924 to lose its first four English top-flight games without scoring, the latest defeat coming at Burnley over the weekend.

De Boer only lasted 84 days in his previous job at Inter Milan. Before that, he won four straight Dutch league titles at Ajax.

“We would like to thank Frank for his dedication and hard work during his time at the club,” Palace said in its statement.

On Sunday, Palace chairman Steve Parish had called for “some sense” amid a string of posts on Twitter.

“We are 4 games in,” he tweeted, “it’s a terrible start but we have to stick together.”

De Boer arrived on a three-year deal and with ambitions of making the team entertaining to watch and integrating more youth-team players. He said his primary objective was to turn a team that regularly battles relegation into a stable Premier League force.