Pardew was in charge of Newcastle from December 2010 till the end of December 2014, when he left them for Premier League rivals Palace.
“Of course, coming from Newcastle, they are a bigger club than Palace, but if you compare the roster of players, I didn’t think it was much of a step down,” Pardew told the FourFourTwo magazine when asked if he had doubts. “I felt I could lift the group of players here and get a lot more out of them."