Mets owner Fred Wilpon praised Willie Randolph’s performance as manager, even though he agreed with general manager Omar Minaya’s decision to fire him last week.

“I think Willie did a good job. I think that the results the last, say, 14 months were not up to what we thought it had to be,” Wilpon said Monday. “What Omar finally decided was that he had to make that change.”

“The intent here clearly was to respect Willie, to respect his feelings and to do it in person,” Wilpon said. “It’s never easy to fire anybody. Believe me.”