Neil Warnock says Leeds United needed a change after replacing Javi Gracia with Sam Allardyce with four games remaining.
Allardyce makes his return to management after almost two years out of work, and will mark his debut at the Etihad Stadium against reigning champions Manchester City on Saturday.
Leeds complete their Premier League run-in with fixtures against Newcastle, West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur, and are only separated by the relegation zone on goal difference.
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Warnock, who previously managed Leeds, joked that he expected to receive a call for the job himself, but admitted he wasn't surprised to see Leeds appoint Allardyce.
Warnock said: “I think sometimes you just need [someone] level-headed really. It didn’t surprise me with Leeds if I’m honest. I thought if I’d got a point on Thursday night they might have rung me on Friday!
“But joking apart, I think it needed a change. I look around everywhere and there’s so much at stake for these teams, isn’t there, financially and everything really. The hierarchy at these clubs make the decisions now and they have to stand by it.
“It didn’t surprise me about Roy [Hodgson] doing well [at Palace] because he knows all the squad there and they’re a really exciting bunch of forward players there, so that didn’t surprise me at all.
“It’s just one of those things: they’re flavour of the month sometimes the young managers, then the old ones come back, then it goes again to the old managers.
"You just have to enjoy it while you can and I’ve enjoyed every minute. We’ve had some 4-0 drubbings and things like that but it’s not deterred me from enjoying it and I’m proud of how the lads have responded really.”
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