Allardyce resigns as Crystal Palace manager
LONDON (Reuters) - Crystal Palace manager Sam Allardyce has quit the Premier League club five months after being appointed to the post and said in a statement on Tuesday that he was leaving football management.
Allardyce, 62, kept Palace in the top flight after replacing the sacked Alan Pardew in December, when the club was standing just one point above the relegation zone. He had signed a 2-1/2-year contract.
"It's been a privilege to have worked here for the past five months. But there comes a time when you have to take stock of what direction you want your life to take - and that's been the simple part for me," Allardyce said in a statement.
"This is the right time for me. I have no ambitions to take another job, I simply want to be able to enjoy all the things you cannot really enjoy with the 24/7 demands of managing any football club, let alone one in the Premier League."
(Writing by Ken Ferris; Editing by Hugh Lawson)