We endured a champagne finish last season and had ourselves rising again to dreams of the top half this time around and Premier League stability.

Now we find ourselves plunging into the abyss of panic and the unknown - welcome aboard the Crystal Palace roller coaster, Malky Mackay.

I am subtly pleased with this appointment, although any Palace fan will admit it's only the best choice from a thoroughly underwhelming short list.  

Until Malky has proven otherwise, it's difficult to consider him as a forward step for the club.

Life after Tony Pulis is always going to be tough, the key thing Malky needs to do in order to succeed at Palace is to pick up from where his predecessor left off.

We are likely to see Keith Millen and Ben Garner kept on - and it is this sense of continuity which is essential to move forward as a club.

The same couldn’t have been said if Tim Sherwood or Martin Jol were to have been installed as manager, thankfully for us.

Perhaps that is the main reason they weren’t considered for the job - wholesale changes at this time could be fatal for us.

I believe there are far too many unfair misconceptions of Mackay.

It's widely said he has a bad track record with big transfer fees.

Although I agree the signing of Andreas Cornelius proved to be a poor one, it’s quickly forgotten that he had also snapped up the likes of Gary Medel and Steven Caulker, two players who would walk into our team.

Fans who were anticipating a manager to arrive with substantial Premier League experience may be disappointed, however.

While I accept Mackay isn’t entirely experienced at this level, he had shown at Cardiff last year he is capable at this level and oversaw some respectable performances, despite managing a team in turmoil behind the scenes. 

These next two weeks leading to the transfer deadline are unimaginably important.

It is said Malky has up to £30m at his disposal to bring in the players he wants.

Certainly having Iain Moody and Mackay singing from the same song sheet should see an increase in speed and conviction with the transfers.

That can only be a good thing for the team, as opposed to the painfully slow process of getting players over the line we have witnessed under previous managers. 

From a personal perspective it’s pretty clear Pulis didn’t want to stay.

We don’t need a character like that at this club, not now and not ever.

It wasn’t worth risking everything in order to keep him.

Although I am incredibly thankful for what Tony has achieved and done for this club, I now have only this bitter feeling left towards him.

It takes a selfish and an arrogant man to walk away from a club with just two days left before the start of a new season.

Mackay's first game is huge, a home meeting against fellow relegation candidates West Ham.

Even at this stage of the season you can't underestimate the importance of a win.

In order to win the crowd over Malky needs to win games and to maintain a good public relationship with the club’s owners, something Pulis failed to do.

I can’t recall many occasions where Pulis praised the club in an interview, likewise it wasn’t until exceptionally late on in the season you heard his name being chanted from the stands.

The relationship was always a strange one but we all just blissfully ignored it as we watched our team role on.

If Malky avoids making such mistakes early on we can hope for a long and successful journey together.

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