It's difficult to believe that Sam Allardyce has left Crystal Palace.
The club and manager appeared to have found each other's perfect match, after the calamity of Alan Pardew's drop toward the relegation trapdoor and Allardyce's own fall as England manager. It looked like the right club, for the right manager, at the right time.
While his appointment initially lacked the bounce supposedly afforded to clubs making emergency managerial changes, the players and manager found the momentum to propel Palace to safety, albeit with a fight that went into the penultimate game of the season.
Allardyce was given the support to make key signings in the January transfer window, securing Jeffrey Schlupp, Patrick van Aanholt, Luka Milivojevic and Mamadou Sakho to help secure that Premier League position.
All four players had key roles in ensuring that the club would get the wins needed to stay up. Sakho, despite playing only nine games, was nominated for the player of the season award, such was his impact.
Wins over Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal were the hallmark of the manager's reign. Additional wins over Bournemouth, West Brom and Hull City were just as significant in ensuring that Palace will play Premier League football next season.
It was no easy task, with the side damaged both mentally and tactically. Repeated defeats had weakened their resolve, while a lack of organisation and fitness also had a detrimental effect. Given the way Palace's squad had deteriorated in the months prior to Allardyce's arrival, it was a remarkable achievement to keep the club up.
There were, at least in appearance, signs of the manager setting a foundation from which Palace could build. Talk of a busy summer, much of it coming from Allardyce, suggested he would be in for the long haul.
It was also clear, however, that with a number of players out of contract in the summer and with Palace's significant outlay in January, additions would have to be made frugally. That Palace have missed out on the signing of Jermaine Defoe, who is close to signing for Bournemouth, could be coincidental.
Perhaps it was the enormity of that task that played a deciding factor in the manager's decision to leave, giving him time to recuperate after such a stressful year. While the timing of the decision is surprising -- in light of recent comments in the press indicating that he wanted to be a builder of teams rather than a firefighter of relegation infernos -- it is understandable. Allardyce spoke of building the club up, of establishing it and then pushing for trophies. The timing just wasn't right.
After the disappointment of losing the England job, a role he admitted had been a lifetime ambition, there must have been a sense of vindication in his success at Palace. A sense of the job being complete.
Whatever the circumstances are, Allardyce's departure leaves Palace fans with plenty of questions and chairman Steve Parish with the difficulty of finding a manager who can build upon the foundation put in place by the previous boss.
The challenge that Palace now face is whether they can attract a manager with the quality and reputation to draw players such as Sakho back to Selhurst Park, or whether this will be a summer when the club's place in the league hierarchy is accepted and players more befitting of a midtable side are recruited.
For the next manager, Palace could look toward Slavisa Jokanovic or David Wagner, both of whom appear to have changed their club's fortunes in the past year. Under Jokanovic, Fulham have played some excellent football in the run toward a failed playoff bid, while Wagner has taken a dynamic Huddersfield Town to the playoff final. However, Marco Silva still hasn't agreed terms with Porto -- though sources tell ESPN FC he will become the club's new boss -- and he might be just the kind of manager who could take Palace forward.
Allardyce leaves the club with the thanks of his supporters, who despite feeling slightly shortchanged by this sudden change of heart are appreciative of what he achieved in his five months at Selhurst Park.
For Parish, the next few weeks will be crucial in determining whether the club face another season of fighting fires or whether Allardyce's work can be built upon.