Alan Pardew's rescue job at Crystal Palace should see him recognised with the Manager of the Year award, according to goalkeeper Julian Speroni.
Pardew arrived from Newcastle United in January with Palace a point adrift of safety in 18th place and on course for relegation.
However, like Tony Pulis did at Selhurst Park a season ago, Pardew revitalised Palace and oversaw an upturn in fortunes to the point where his side could finish in the top half this term.
Twelve points clear of danger, Speroni feels the former West Ham boss has to be a candidate for the managerial gong.
"He was amazing, he lifted everybody, it was amazing how he managed to put his message across and how the players took it on board very, very quickly," the Argentinean told Perform.
"Normally it takes managers some time to adjust, to make sure the players know what he wants to do, which ways he wants to play but in Alan's case it was done really really quick and credit to him for that.
"We needed it, we needed to get the points on the board as quickly as possible and he managed to do that which is incredible.
"It's hard to talk about different managers in terms of football style, they all have their own different ideas, different ways they want to play the game.
"At the time we needed to be solid, we were conceding a lot of goals and that's what we did, we were solid and we tried to get the goals we needed on the counter attack and now we probably play a different kind of football.
"I'm enjoying it a little more because that is the way I grew up playing, back home in Argentina and I'm enjoying every minute of it.
"He has done a fantastic job, not only for us but for Newcastle at the beginning of the season and he has to be up there he has to be one of the [manager of the year] candidates for sure."
