Jedinak surprised to lose Palace captaincy

Mile Jedinak revealed he was surprised to find out he had been stripped of the Crystal Palace captaincy. 

Palace manager Alan Pardew notified Jedinak last week that defender Scott Dann would replace him as skipper. 

Jedinak had captained Palace through promotion from the Championship, and led the team out at Wembley for the FA Cup final in May. 

The Australia international said he was shocked to have had that conversation with Pardew, but is looking to move on ahead of the Premier League season, which begins on Saturday.

“I was surprised, obviously. When you do a job with full commitment, it’s never nice,” Jedinak told Fox Sports.

“When there’s something that you regarded very highly throughout your career, especially with where the football club was at and where it is now, to be in that position has been a huge privilege and something I did with full commitment.

“You give your all to the task and hopefully that’s enough but sometimes things get taken out of your hands and one way or another you have to accept it and get on with it and focus on the task at hand.

“It was a bit of a shock and I’m someone who has got a lot of pride so it wasn’t the nicest thing that’s for sure.”

Jedinak insists he remains committed to Palace, despite reports suggesting Pardew’s decision was to force him out of Selhurst Park.

“Obviously you’ve got to take it for what it’s worth, I haven’t heard any other reason so you take it as it is until you hear otherwise and just continue to do your job week in week out,” he said.

“My commitment is to Palace, I’m a Palace player, I’ve not been told otherwise by anybody and until then you remain committed. 

“At this time of the season there’s a lot of speculation but I just remain true to myself and keep my head down and not remain muddled with anything. Just keep a clear head and get on with the job.”