Peter Taylor has been unveiled as Crystal Palace's sixth manager in seven years after ending his three-and-a-half-year tenure at Hull.

The former Leicester, Brighton and Gillingham manager, 53, succeeds Iain Dowie at a club with whom he enjoyed a hugely successful stint as a player during the mid-70s.

Taylor looked to be a front-runner for the Charlton job earlier this summer but pulled out of the running after an interview with the Premiership club.

Ironically, Dowie then took on the job at The Valley after leaving Selhurst Park, prompting Palace Simon Jordan to take legal action against the former Eagles boss.

Taylor emerged as Jordan's number-one choice ahead of Graeme Souness, Mike Newell and Italian Alberto Zaccheroni.

Jordan was keen to have Dowie's successor in place by the time the players return for pre-season training on July 4.

With a year remaining on Taylor's Hull contract, Palace will pay compensation of around £250,000 to their Championship rivals for his services.

Taylor's reputation took a severe battering during an ill-fated spell as Leicester manager between 2000 and 2001, but he has since restored it in style.

He guided Brighton to the Second Division title in 2002 and Hull to successive promotions in 2004 and 2005.

Yet his relationship with Hull chairman Adam Pearson was fractured after the pair engaged in a public war of words during Taylor's flirtation with Charlton.

And, despite insisting he remained committed to Hull after pulling out of the race to succeed Alan Curbishley, Taylor found the lure of a return to his native south-east impossible to resist.

Hull, meanwhile, return for pre-season training on July 3 and Pearson will step up his efforts to bring in a new man.

Mick McCarthy, Joe Royle, Dave Penney, Martin Allen, Steve Tilson and Phil Parkinson are among the names being touted to replace Taylor.