Trevor Francis will be named the new manager of Crystal Palace in time for the home fixture against Manchester City on December 8.

Guardian Sport can exclusively reveal that chairman Simon Jordan will make the appointment next week, after he reportedly held talks with former Birmingham City manager at the weekend.

Jordan has moved to replace Steve Bruce sooner rather than later after promotion chasing Palace suffered a slump in form with two successive away defeats in a week.

And his move for the sacked Blues manager could now clear the way for Bruce to join Birmingham, despite the High Court injunction Simon Jordan secured last week, forcing Bruce to serve a nine month notice period.

Francis' appointment and the agreement of an adequate compensation package with Birmingham, should now bring the acrimonious saga of Bruce's departure to close.

But the appointment of former QPR, Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham City manager Francis, may not hit the right note with Palace fans, many of whom voted over-whelmingly in favour of George Graham in an open poll on the Palace website.

Palace Echo fanzine editor Neil Witherow told the Guardian: "He's not exactly what we were hoping for, but he did a very good job at Sheffield Wednesday, and his record is better than Steve Bruce's was when he joined, so we'll have to give him a chance."

Francis has enjoyed some success in his managerial career, most notably taking Wednesday to third place in the Premier League and the FA and League Cup finals, before taking First Division Birmingham to Cardiff in the Worthington Cup last season.But having taken Birmingham City to the play-offs in four successive seasons, without achieving promotion, the St Andrews board lost patience and sacked the former Blues player.

Francis had a glittering playing career so he is sure to command the respect of the players.

Neil Witherow added: "I think it's good that Jordan's doing something now because the past couple of performances have suggested there's a feeling of uncertainty at the club."

The interim management team of Steve Kember and Terry Bullivant guided Palace to four points from their first two games but the defeats at Gillingham and Preston during a tricky spell of three successive away games, convinced Jordan to act quickly.

Speaking to the Guardian this week, Kember refused to comment on the possibility of Francis or any other manager joining the club, but he and Bullivant are thought to have been consulted on his appointment, after Jordan pledged to find someone compatible with them.

Francis' previous teams have all had strong defensive records which is something Palace need, having leaked goals all season.

But they will be without the services of Tony Popovic who returned from international duty with Australia on Tuesday with a foot injury.

Kember said: "It could be a couple of weeks before he's back."

The club last week announced that former Palace legend Ian Wright is to return to the club to help coach the strikers.

Kember confirmed: "Ian's coming to join in because he's such a bubbly character and it will give us a boost.

We feel that he can come in and do the odd extra session with the strikers, which will help because he was such a good player and prolific striker in his day."

November 28, 2001 14:00