Tony Pulis said “differences” of opinion with the co-chairman Steve Parish prompted his surprise departure from Crystal Palace but believes the club have enough strength to remain in the division despite the upheaval.

“For me to sit here and say there weren’t differences between me and Steve would be ridiculous,” Pulis told Sky’s Goals on Sunday. “Having said that, the Thursday before the Arsenal game, I went out for dinner with Steve and he paid for it, so there can’t have been that much wrong. It’s only right that the chairman, who puts his own money into a club, has a right and responsibility to ask what you’re doing or what you’re not doing. I don’t have a problem with that. The other issues and things, I don’t really want to go into that. It just got to that stage where I thought [leaving] was best.

“I made the decision to speak to Steve about certain things, and we needed to agree together that we would go our different paths. I have great respect for everything he’s done at the football club, with the other three directors. They’ve spent their own money to keep the club afloat, and they’re getting their dividends now. They deserve everything they get, those four.”