Alan Pardew hopes to manage his first game with Crystal Palace at Aston Villa on New Year’s Day after finalizing the terms of his departure from Newcastle.

The 53-year-old was back on Tyneside on Tuesday, entering the club’s academy via a side entrance, to bid farewell to the squad who he had steered into mid-table in the Premier League after a dismal start. The announcement he has returned to Palace, his first professional club but a side languishing in the relegation zone, on a four-year contract worth around £2 million per season is anticipated on Wednesday.