Crystal Palace sit a single point above the relegation zone with two Premier League wins to their name, and the manager who collected them is now the subject of succession talk rather than reinforcement. The Telegraph’s Mike McGrath reports that Sean Dyche is the front-runner if the Palace board decides to move on from Pierre Sage, who was only appointed in the summer.

Nothing has been confirmed by the club. Sage took charge of Palace’s 2-0 home defeat to Newcastle on the weekend and is expected to be on the touchline for the next round of fixtures.

The three names on Palace’s list

Football Insider, in reporting cited by Yahoo Sports, names Dyche, Rob Edwards and Thomas Frank as the three candidates under active consideration, with the backing split inside the building: sporting director Matt Hobbs is said to favour Edwards, while long-time Palace executive Iain Moody is pushing for Dyche. Frank, who was on the Palace list before Sage was hired in the summer, is the third name.

Palace, according to the same report, are looking at the November international break as the point to make a change if Sage’s results do not turn. That gives him roughly three weeks and a run of fixtures that includes Fulham and Besiktas before the Premier League pauses.

Read also: Tottenham eye surprise double deal as Ruben Amorim makes AC Milan transfer decision

Out of work since February

Dyche has been available since Nottingham Forest dismissed him in the early hours of 12 February 2026, 114 days after his appointment, following a goalless draw with Wolves. Forest, under Evangelos Marinakis, had cycled through Nuno Espirito Santo and Ange Postecoglou before Dyche, and Vitor Pereira took over at the City Ground.

Before Forest, Dyche spent a decade at Burnley, winning two promotions and keeping the club in the Premier League across six seasons, and two years at Everton, where he inherited a relegation fight in January 2023 and kept them up twice.

The ‘incredible’ hook

The Everton stint is what put him in the frame for Palace. FootballFanCast, in its report on Dyche’s emergence as the leading candidate, revisits a Pep Guardiola press-conference line in which the Manchester City manager described Dyche’s work on Merseyside as “an incredible job,” crediting him with taking the club out of a difficult position and avoiding relegation.

The context Guardiola was speaking in was a Premier League fixture against Everton, not a reference he intended as a managerial endorsement for a Palace vacancy that did not yet exist.

Read also: ‘I’m in love’: Bayern Munich legend makes unexpected Harry Kane confession

Fulham next, then Besiktas

Sage’s immediate task is Palace’s next league game against Fulham, with a Europa League trip to Besiktas sandwiched around it. The window the board has drawn is the November international break, with Dyche’s name, by multiple accounts, at the top of the list if that call is made.

Read also: Jose Mourinho makes extraordinary Real Madrid claim ahead of Barcelona showdown