Emotional Hart feels the agony for former club

Hart, a no-nonsense centre-half in his playing days, played for Wednesday 52 times after moving from Nottingham Forest in 1985.

But he returned as Crystal Palace manager yesterday in a match dubbed 'Survival Sunday' to deny his former club the victory they needed to secure their Championship safety.

The 2-2 draw was enough to save Palace, who had been plunged into the relegation trouble after having 10 points deducted for going into administration.

Hart said: "When I joined the club I looked at the fixtures and saw Sheffield Wednesday on the final day of the season. I knew it was going to be a fight but you hope and pray that it doesn't go to the last game.

"It has been a very emotional day. Great relief on our part, but there is sadness on their part because Alan Irvine's a friend and I played here as well and I've been relegated before and it's not very nice.

"It must have been a great game for the neutral. Both teams tried to win it and put everything in it.

"I often listen to people say how they were left emotionally drained and I know what they mean now."

An emotional Hart revealed he will start looking for work again this week after ending his short-term contract at Palace by keeping them in the Championship.

Hart, in charge at Portsmouth and then QPR earlier in a helter-skelter season, was drafted in by Palace's administrators in January with a brief to ensure the Londoners, a reported 30m in debt, stayed up.

He succeeded thanks to the nerve-shredding Hillsborough draw and revealed "it would be no hardship" to carry on should he be given the opportunity.

Hart added: "We're hoping the new ownership gets completed and now they can build from a sounder base of Championship football, which I think is very important.

"It's such a great club that I would fully expect, with the correct business practices put in place that the right visionary people, if handled properly, could make great progress.

"I've said all along, let's get the takeover done then the new owners can make a decision (on the next manager).

"It would be absolutely no hardship whatsoever to work at this football club, it has been a fantastic experience, but they should be allowed to make their own appointments."

Wealthy Palace fans group CPFC 2010 remain in pole position to take over both the club and Selhurst Park, which is separately owned, and talks with the administrators will continue throughout this week.

He said: "I had a great time at Portsmouth and thoroughly enjoyed it and thoroughly enjoyed my time working with these players at Palace, so two out of three ain't bad.

"We have been fighting a relegation battle for two or three months through no fault of our own.

"No-one will admit it but the psychological affect it had on the players was huge.

"They have stood up to be counted and I am very, very proud of that group of players. They have done the business and we can all be proud of them."

"We came here to win. It would have been foolhardy to park up on the edge of their box and also slightly disrespectful to Sheffield Wednesday.

"We knew they could play and felt we had to score."