Glenn Hoddle is the surprise third candidate on Steve Parish’s shortlist to replace Tony Pulis, with the Crystal Palace co-owner eager to speak to the Queen’s Park Rangers coach before he makes a decision.

Parish has already interviewed Tim Sherwood and Malky Mackay, although he will have needed the permission of QPR to contact Hoddle, who only took up a role at the club a week ago having been recruited by Harry Redknapp. QPR would be sorry to lose Hoddle but clearly would allow him to leave should Palace wish to appoint him.

Hoddle took the QPR job on the basis that it would be a pathway back into management – his last job was at Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he was dismissed in 2006. That and his punditry efforts have put him back in the frame for coaching jobs. It is understood he applied for the job at Palace.

Tony Pulis made the shock decision to leave Palace last week (Getty Images)

Sherwood is a strong contender for the role, but Mackay will clearly have the endorsement of the club’s sporting director, Iain Moody, with whom he worked at Cardiff City. Parish is eager to have a manager in place before the weekend, in time to take over for the game at home to West Ham on Saturday. It is unclear what kind of compensation, if any, Palace would be obliged to pay Rangers were they to appoint Hoddle.

As for Pulis, who has reached a settlement with Palace, he is one of two candidates, along with David Moyes, to land the West Ham job should the club decide to call time on Sam Allardyce’s reign over the next couple of months.

Video: Palace shocked at Pulis exit

Pulis’s departure from Palace was a consequence of unresolvable differences over transfer targets this summer, with the former manager unwilling to accept that Parish was doing all he could to sign the players who had been identified.

The Premier League board has found Palace guilty of breaching its “good faith” rule on the strength of a complaint by Cardiff City that team information was leaked to the London club ahead of their league fixture in April.

The board ruled that Moody contacted players to get the team for the game, which Palace won 3-0. The fine is yet to be decided but will not exceed £25,000.

Moody joined Palace last November, weeks after being dismissed as head of recruitment at Cardiff during a stormy period for the Welsh club.

Palace declined yesterday to comment on the findings of the Premier League investigation, as did Cardiff, who were relegated at the end of last season.

In April, Pulis said of the spying claim: “As a manager and as a coach, I log every session that I do, and I’ll be taking those sessions up to the Premier League to show that I picked my team on Monday before we played Cardiff on the Saturday.