Crystal Palace chairman breaks silence on Manchester United links with Dougie Freedman

Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has poured cold water on suggestions sporting director Dougie Freedman could head to Manchester United when Sir Jim Ratcliffe steps into the boardroom.

INEOS founder Ratcliffe, 71, is expected to complete his investment imminently. That will spark a further shake-up behind the scenes and Freedman has been mooted as one possible option.

The former striker had two spells with Palace during his playing days. He also served as manager at Selhurst Park before stepping into his current role as sporting director in 2017.

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Freedman, 49, has enjoyed considerable success in that position. However, according to Palace chairman and co-owner Parish, no conversations have been had between the Scot and key figures at Old Trafford.

Parish, 58, was pressed on that subject by Gary Lineker when appearing on the latest Rest is Football podcast. He replied: "You'd have to get inside the minds of those people, wouldn't you? There's certainly I don't think been any conversations, but it's very flattering for the club.

"Totally [clubs get used to interest]. You guys live in the world where 50 per cent of the stories told in the media are true and 50 per cent aren't, it's just that we don't know which ones."

Parish continued: "He's been really important for us. If you're going to do this, you've got to do it with people that you like to start with as there's so much pressure sometimes.

"He's a brilliant guy. He was the second manager I had at the club and he was instrumental in us getting promoted. If you want to watch the Amazon documentary, you will see the whole story about that.

"He's been