Despite being a 40/1 rank outsider to face the sack first this season, following an unbelievable rescue and revival that saw Palace finish in 11th place in the Premier League, Tony Pulis sensationally quit the club last night after crisis talks with co-owner Steve Parish. Clearly, the crisis was not averted. Now Palace - who have brought in some solid though mostly unspectacular players with the likes of Brede Hangeland, Fraizer Campbell, Chris Kettings and Martin Kelly from Liverpool - face a last-minute scrabble to bring in a new manager just hours before their season opener against Arsenal tomorrow. If the prospect of facing the Gunners at the Emirates wasn't daunting enough, Palace must now do it without the manager who reinvented the team last year and brought with him a new footballing mentality that turned the team from relegation fodder to near top half finishers. All of the details of quite why Pulis left remain up for speculation, but it seems to have been a degeneration in his relationship with Parish over transfers that has led to his very public walk out. Pulis wanted to be backed heavily to take advantage of the good work last season, and though Parish expressed his desire to try and get Wilfred Zaha back to the club from Manchester United, his policy of spending cautiously seems to have pushed Pulis towards the door. The bookies have already made a short-list of the most likely candidates to replace Pulis, but the following names are those that should be most hotly under consideration if Palace want to move forward.