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I am delighted that Wilfried Zaha will become a Manchester United player.

In fact, I would like to think I played a big role in making it happen.

And before any cynics out there think about raising an eyebrow, let me make it clear straight away that I won’t be making a single penny from a transfer that was in danger of dying on the vine.

In my three years as ­manager of Blackpool, I used to benefit financially whenever we sold a player.

That was because, when I took up Karl Oyston’s offer to become boss at Bloomfield Road, I accepted a wage that was well below the going rate being paid in the Championship.

When we were promoted to the Premier League, the terms of my contract ­remained exactly the same – even though that single season in the top-flight was worth about £90million to the club.

To compensate for this, it was written into my contract that I would earn a bonus every time a player who had improved under my coaching was sold to another club.

It was all legal and above board – and it enabled me to make somewhere near the kind of cash that my peers were banking through their basic wage.

But when the arrangement was made public, all hell broke loose.

There is no way I would have ever sold a player ­purely for my own financial gain.

Any deal had to the right for both Blackpool Football Club and the player himself.

And I would like to think that I gave great value for money to the Tangerines.

When I became manager of Crystal Palace in ­November, I was delighted to accept the challenge of ­taking charge of a big club.

I was also very happy with the financial package I was offered.

Being paid a bonus based on player sales wasn’t even an issue.

It didn’t need to be.

The deal agreed between Palace and United for ­Wilfried Zaha is one where all three parties win.

We receive a fee for a ­player who came through the ranks at Selhurst Park to win an ­England cap and we also get to keep him for the rest of the season to boost our promotion dream.

United have bought a player who is as good as anyone I have ever worked with in my entire career as player or manager.

And Wilfried will be joining arguably the biggest football club in the world and will be working under a manager who is a genius at improving footballers.

But it has been a protracted process.

At one point, I thought the deal would not be done – thanks to the input of a number of agents who tried to turn the ­player’s head with ridiculous promises.

One agent, in particular, acted absolutely disgracefully and although I won’t give him the oxygen of publicity by naming him in my column, I will tell him exactly what I think of him the next time our paths cross.

There isn’t an agent in the world who can guarantee a footballer a move to ­Manchester United.

Only the player himself can earn himself that kind of transfer – by playing so well that a manager like Sir Alex Ferguson feels compelled to sign him.

So why on earth should an agent earn a vast amount of money when he has nothing to do with the player’s ­development or either football club?

The answer, in short, is that they shouldn’t.

It got to a stage when I was worried that Sir Alex would end his ­interest in Wilfried, such was the skulduggery of certain people who had nothing to do with Palace or United.

So I decided to call the great man himself and assure him that Wilfried has all the physical and mental attributes to be a great success at Old Trafford.

Whether my words to Sir Alex helped, I don’t know.

But earlier this season, I vowed to always do what I could to help one of my ­players to better himself. Even if that meant losing him.

I fear that I did not do enough to help Matt Phillips earn a ­fantastic move to a ­Premier League club in my final months as Blackpool ­manager.

Matt, who is now a Scotland international, cost just £350,000 when I signed him from Wycombe.

When an offer came in for him from a top-flight club in the summer, it did not meet Blackpool’s ­valuation and he stayed at Bloomfield Road.

I was absolutely gutted when the lad then suffered a serious toe injury that ­required surgery, although I am delighted to report that he has just returned to fitness and action.

In the intervening months, I have often questioned ­whether I tried hard enough to convince Blackpool to do the deal.

That’s because I am a ­believer that good reputations are hard to build, but easy to destroy.

At Selhurst Park, we ­already have a terrific youth set-up that has produced players such as Zaha and Victor Moses.

If I am trying to ­persuade a promising footballer to sign for our club, I will be able to use those two ­players as ­examples of what can be achieved with Palace.

We have helped both of hem to develop from raw ­schoolboys to full ­internationals.

And, when the opportunity to move on to bigger and ­better things arose, we didn’t stand in their way.

Of course, I would have loved to see Wilfried playing in the Premier League next season in a Palace shirt, with a ­lucrative long-term contract safely tucked away in his club blazer.

But transfers to Manchester United are once-in-a-lifetime opportunites.

Click here for the rest of Ian Holloway's column: Why deliberately fouling an opponent to stop him scoring is as despicable as diving, and more