ALAN Lee has admitted he was delighted to leave Ipswich Town for Crystal Palace.Lee made his debut in Palace's 4-2 loss against Reading but said he was looking forward to playing for new boss Neil Warnock.

Derek Davis

ALAN Lee has admitted he was delighted to leave Ipswich Town for Crystal Palace.

Lee made his debut in Palace's 4-2 loss against Reading but said he was looking forward to playing for new boss Neil Warnock.

We revealed on Wednesday that Town had accepted a £600,000 bid from the Eagles and hours later Lee was in at Selhurst Park for talks.

Lee said: "I jumped at the chance to play football for Neil Warnock, it's a great club, the facilities are fantastic, it's a new challenge and I'm really looking forward to it."

After Town had rejected an offer approaching £750,000 from Hull the year before, and signing a new two-year deal, Lee didn't think manager Jim Magilton would cash in on him but was pleased to be allowed to leave Ipswich.

Lee said: “I was surprised when Jim Magilton told me about the move - but it suited me. There's been a lot of going back and forward but I'm thrilled to have got the deal done at last.

"Jim Magilton mentioned something to me on Monday and just said for me to get Tuesday's game out of the way and then we took it from there.%3Cbody%3E%3Cdiv%20id%3D%22adDiv%22%3E%3CA%20HREF%3D%22http%3A//ads.anm.co.uk/ADCLICK/CID%3Dfffffffcfffffffcfffffffc/AAMSZ%3D452x118/SITE%3DTHISISCROY/AREA%3DSPORT/SUBAREA%3DLATESTSPORT/ARTICLE%3D299451/acc_random%3D552139137/pageid%3D/RS%3D10245.10177.10232.10244.10257.10287.%22%20target%3D%22_new%22%3E%3CIMG%20SRC%3D%22http%3A//iad.anm.co.uk/anmdefaultad.gif%22%20ALT%3D%22%22%20border%3D0%20style%3D%22margin-bottom%3A%200px%3B%22%3E%3C/A%3E%3C/div%3E

"I got the call Wednesday, we talked for a couple of days and we completed the deal on Friday night.”

Lee's arrival could see the departure of James Scowcroft with Bristol City and Norwich City linked with the former Town forward in a possible loan move in a couple of weeks.

Lee was an unused substitute in the Blues League Cup win over Colchester United and leaves after being signed by Joe Royle for a mere £150,000.

The 30-year-old made 109 appearances for Ipswich scoring 34 goals.