Tony Pulis refused to lift the lid on his Crystal Palace exit but insisted he will never do a better job elsewhere.
The West Brom head coach returns to Selhurst Park for the first time since leaving on the eve of the season when he takes the Baggies there on Saturday.
Pulis won Manager of the Year by guiding Palace to 11th last year, after taking over when they were second bottom of the Barclays Premier League with just seven points from 12 games.
However, he quit 48 hours before the start of the campaign and remained tight-lipped over the reasons for his departure.
"I had a great 10 months there and it's none of your business," he said when asked why he left. "If you want to talk about negative things I'm not here to do that.
"Whatever happens between me and another individual, happens between me and him. I'm not going to talk behind people's backs.
"I think Stoke will always sit with me as the main job because of the time I spent there but as a short-term position I don't think I'd ever better what went on at Palace.
"I don't want to talk about what went on and what didn't go on, what matters was them staying in the Premier League. It's a good club and has unbelievable potential. To finish 11th was absolutely fabulous and something everyone at the club could be proud of.
"We spent just under £3million and brought in Scott Dann, Joe Ledley and Tom Ince and they were important signings."
Palace boss Alan Pardew has won 10 of his 15 games since replacing Neil Warnock in January and the Eagles thumped Sunderland 4-1 last week.
Glenn Murray has scored six goals in his last six games after spending the first half of the season on loan at Reading - where Pulis insisted he would never have sent him.
He said: "Murray has ended up scoring a lot of goals this season which is brilliant. I ended up being there when he just came back (from a serious knee injury).
"The lucky thing for Glenn is I wouldn't have loaned him out to Reading but I think the five or six months at Reading got him fit and got him to where he is now.
"I was surprised Palace didn't get off to a good start. They have spent almost £30million so I've just been told, so is it any surprise they are doing as well now? No, not at all. That group of players left behind are still there and both managers (Warnock and Pardew) have added to it."
Pulis could be without Brown Ideye, who is struggling with a knee injury - but Callum McManaman is fully fit following a foot problem after being an unused substitute in the 3-2 loss to Leicester last week.
It condemned the Baggies to back-to- back defeats after losing 4-1 to QPR and they now face four of the top five - including leaders Chelsea - in their final six games.
They are seven points clear of the drop zone and Pulis is keeping a cool head.
"Everyone is jumping around because we lost to QPR and Leicester and everyone said it was going to be six points," Pulis added.
"The teams we have to play are top, top teams and we have to perform against them.
"The points are there if we play well as a team. We've had great results against good teams and we have to get back to not making individual mistakes."
Source: PA
