Former Crystal Palace manager Ian Holloway feels Tony Pulis’ departure had a certain inevitability to it because he and Steve Parish are both such strong characters.

Holloway quit Selhurst Park last October after less than a year in charge, although admittedly he lasted a couple of months longer than his successor after the Welshman stunned football by leaving Palace late on Thursday following showdown talks with Parish on transfer policy.

Speaking after today’s 1-0 win for new club Millwall at Fulham, Ollie was asked for his take on what had happened in SE25.

“They are two strong people,” the Bristolian said.

“Tony has done a fantastic job, I absolutely recommended he would.

“And when you talk about things with your chairman, if it changes then you’ve got to be honest with each other.

“He (Parish) wanted to change it, it was more important we stayed up rather than me build (long-term) the way to play.

“It is going to take a while but I recommended him (Pulis) and at the end of the day on we went and good luck to them.

“But it was always going to be a problem because Tony is Tony and Steve is Steve.

“If Malky ends up with it at least Tony can look back and say ‘well I did that club proud’ and he certainly did.

“It just shows there is nothing stranger than football, there isn’t.

“But you have to respect your football club – and I respect everyone I’ve ever worked for.”