Alan Pardew has the qualities to manage England in the future and is a strong contender for the job, according to Crystal Palace defender Scott Dann.

The Eagles boss, 54, has been tipped as a future England manager by several pundits this week after he admitted the role would be hard to turn down.

Pardew stressed that he is more than happy in his current position, but centre-back Dann insisted he would be a leading contender if the FA were looking for an English manager.

“I would say so,” Dann told Goals on Sunday.

“When you look around for an English manager there are not many out there and he would be at the top of the list.”

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Dann’s defensive partner, Damien Delaney, also spoke highly of Pardew, who has inspired an extraordinary start to the season.

Palace had won five of their eight games before the 3-1 defeat to West Ham on Saturday, and briefly occupied a Champions League spot.

“He has been very good, I’ve been really impressed with him,” Delaney said.

“I didn’t know him before he came here but he is very thorough tactically and very good with the players.

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“We want to improve on last season – to get in the top six is really tough, we know we have a lot of  work to do but we have started the season really well and if we can keep improving and putting in the performances we will be going in the right direction.”

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