Malcolm Allison, the charismatic former Crystal Palace manager, died aged 83 on Friday.

He will be remembered at Selhurst Park as the man who formed their modern-day image, changing the club's nickname to The Eagles from The Glaziers, swapping their claret and blue kits for the now famous red and blue stripes and altering the club crest to include an Eagle.

He was known for wearing a Fedora and smoking cigars on the touchline as well his womanising - once sharing the bath in the players changing room with porn star Fiona Richmond.

On the field he was not particularly successful, overseeing back-to-back relegations as the Eagles dropped from the top tier to Division Three but did mastermind an FA Cup run that saw the Eagles reach the semi-final for the first time in 1976.

Having left after three seasons in 1976 he returned for a short nine game spell in 1980 before leaving with a record of winning as many games as lost (59), from his 168 in charge.

"We did suffer two relegations but it didn't matter in a way because it was still the club that everyone was wanting to beat," said Palace's club historian Ian King.

"We had this aura around the club with all these various bits going on like when he got Fiona Richmond down to the ground. He increased the profile of the club in the media just by being the manager.

"We were always in the press and the crowd stuck with the club because, although we were losing, we were playing a different style of football.

"During the FA Cup run he employed a sweeper behind the back four which was pretty new at the time and that was what flummoxed the opposition.

"It was during that cup run that the Fedora came out for the first time.

"It came out in third round at Scarborough where, at Allison's insistence, they brought the kick off forward to 2.15pm as he thought the floodlights were not up to scratch.

"Because of that the sun was shining straight across at him so he wore this Fedora and that became his signature item."

Current Palace manager George Burley also added his tribute to Allison.

"Malcolm was one of the best coaches in the game," he said.

"He was great working with players on the training pitch and taking them on and even into management.

"He has a great reputation and respect in the game for his ability and he had such passion for football."