Shell-shocked Kit is ready for challenge

Jordan said: "Kit Symons is taking over for a temporary period. It's important we keep the dressing room together."

The Welshman, whose first match in charge will be Saturday's home clash with Preston, said: "I was just about to go in the shower at the training ground about 12.30 when the chairman told me he had let Steve and Terry Bullivant go and he wanted me to take charge for the time being. I asked if I could gather my thoughts and went back for a further meeting at about four o'clock.

"In the meantime, I phoned Chris Coleman as he is my biggest friend in football. If I needed any inspiration as a manager then I need to look no further than what he has done at Fulham. My first priority is to lift the club up the table because Palace should not be in the position they are in. I am looking forward to it."

Symons added: "I feel very sorry for Steve and Terry and want to make it clear I have the utmost respect for both of them. But it is also a chance to show what I can do. I have my own ideas and may pick myself depending on circumstances.

"I want to keep playing for as long as I can. I have played under some great managers, including Kevin Keegan, Jim Smith and Jean Tigana and have picked up things from all of them."

Kember, 54, will be paid the remaining-18 months on his contract. He said: "As a manager you are judged on results and the results were not good enough. I am disappointed things did not work out becuse I wanted so much to succeed at a club where I started as a player. "

Jordan, who has parted company with Steve Coppell, Alan Smith, Steve Bruce, Trevor Francis and now Kember since buying the club for £10million in May 2000, insisted: "If you look at my track record, I am very committed to my managers. I have always given them enough rope for them to run with or hang themselves with. If I hadn't acted now, we could have been looking at something worse than just standing still."

Graham Rix is among the first of what is expected to be a flood of applicants for the job. The former Chelsea assistant coach said: "Palace have the potential to reach the Premiership. The job would certainly have a lot of attraction for me."