Our weekly feature, The Eagle Speaks, is written by Paul Price who brings us his views on the recent goings on from Selhurst Park. You can get in touch with Paul on Twitter.
With a rather dull international break resulting in no Palace game, I honestly thought that this week’s article would be a struggle with not too much to write about. How wrong I was!
Further to my article last week and the crazy final day of the transfer window, Palace fans can surely not complain too much about what the club has done during the period as a whole. However, a few recent events may potentially leave a bit of a black mark against our name. On a positive note, it was fantastic to see the obvious financial (and personal) support that the board must have given to Holloway during the window with a final tally of sixteen players being announced as new signings. On paper these appear to bring a mixture of class, experience, youth, potential and pace so a great balance and hopefully some exciting times ahead.
Signings in no particular order – Chamakh, Gayle, Marange, Phillips, Dobbie, Puncheon, Campana, Thomas, Bannan, Kebe, Grandin, Mariappa, Hunt, Jerome, Geudioula & Alexander.
Further excitement and then a level of disappointment was also experienced with the potential signings of Bendtner and Andy Johnson. The Bendtner deal fell through having looked quite positive for a while on the final day. Andy Johnson’s deal also fell through but in the very final moments of the day and was apparently quashed due to QPR hiking their fees at the last minute thinking that Palace were in a state of desperation with time running out. The media has since confirmed that AJ will be a Palace transfer target in January. In many ways, I was not too bothered by the AJ situation but would welcome him back in a Palace shirt. We have all seen a lot of him, numerous goals and have some great memories. Perhaps we shouldn’t go back as a club and leave these great memories as they are.
Unfortunately with the squad additions mentioned above and the pending naming of our 25 man squad we were bound to lose a few players too. A link to the final named twenty five man squad is here. With respect to the departures, key high profile exclusions from the squad were Ramage, Wilbraham Dobbie, Marange and Garvan for differing reasons. The more observant amongst us will have noticed that two of them were also new signings in the shape of Dobbie and Marange.
Apparently, the Marange exit was due to potentially poor scouting as it appears as though he was not the quality of player that the club were expecting. Marange has since expressed his “disgust” at the club over the way that he has been treated.
Having signed for Palace on a free transfer from Bordeaux, he was left out of the official twenty five man Premier League side for the 2013-14 season with only having played in the shirt in the League Cup defeat at Bristol City. This omission has left him completely out on a limb as the club were knocked out of the League Cup that night, he is not allowed to play in the Premiership and his next appearance for the club would not come around until (if at all) in the FA Cup third round in January.
Marange has since been quoted as saying that he did not know the rule about the squad which ultimately resulted in his exclusion and blames the incident partly on his advisor. This situation in addition to the club publishing a picture of a Bordeaux team-mate instead of Marange and a bunch of accusations about having to pay for a hotel out of his own money do not look good for the club if true. Despite his obvious anger he should not have perhaps gone to the press before the expected meeting with the CPFC board tomorrow. Hollowayhas since defended his decision by describing the transfer market as “utter madness” (link here) and claiming that the Dobbie and Marange signings were undertaken in “good faith.” We will have to see what occurs after the meeting on Wednesday but, this appears to have been badly handled on the surface and you have to feel sorry for the guy whatever has happened. At this stage we have however only heard one side of the argument so, will have to see what transpires before making any kind of personal judgements. With all of the above in mind, the best route would probably be a cancellation of his contract on acceptable terms to all parties.
Further to the “good faith” comment above, the Dobbie exclusion is a lot more puzzling. This is a player that has assisted with getting three teams promotedn to the Premier League, was a target for Holloway recently, worked with Holloway previously but is yet again unable to secure a regular position in a Premier League side. Garvan was also left out of the squad and appeared to be very un-impressed with the exclusion tweeting “I will be here longer than he will, trust me.” Read into this what you will but, he was obviously very unhappy.
Garvan appears to be a bit like Marmite based on tweets I have seen this week but he has actually got a very good record for Palace when he played last season. It is assumed that his obvious lack of pace in particular was probably a major factor in his exclusion.
The only comparison that I can draw from this transfer window is around Holloway seeing a huge shop window. The club then have to go on a shopping spree before a key deadline day thinking that they need or must have these things or they may miss out. They then realise that some better products (in their view) are available with the initial items now surplus to requirements. As we saw and heard from Holloway and Parish, the transfer window is a very high pressure period and as fans we do not really fully understand what goes on but we need to trust that Holloway and the owners to have made the right decisions. I honestly think that the club just managed to secure some unexpected late deals in the final days and the subsequent signings will give us the best shot in this league which is ultimately what matters.
Peter Ramage was the model departure and left the club in an incredibly professional manner. He must have been very disappointed having been a key figure in our promotion winning team of last year as well as a dressing room and fans favourite. A link to a really fantastic piece from the Croydon Advertiser from Rambo is here and well worth a read. With all of the transfer window madness and having to reduce the squad down, I for one would not have wanted to be in Holloway’s shoes. In addition to probably being a bit tight and not necessarily the look I am after, he has had to make some very tough decisions and undertake some very difficult conversations with players that he has worked with and nurtured under his management.
“Ultimately, what we need to remember is that we want to give this league our absolutely best shot and although a few decisions may be questionable with some fans, this is Crystal Palace Football Club and no player or manager is bigger than the club itself.”
Further news from the past week has been the touch-line suspension and fine handed out to Ian Holloway for his antics and comments after the Tottenham game. This appears to have been very harsh and incredibly inconsistent by the FA as some other managers have made similar comments and did not receive the same penalty. Holloway’s comments, enthusiasm and passion are some of the reasons that he is so popular to many fans and the football world generally so, he should never change these traits as they make him what he is.
We now move onwards to the strange game between Crystal Palace and the Oman national side this evening. It should be an interesting spectacle as it is expected that a number of our new signings will feature. It will be great to see them in the red and blue and allow us to form our own opinions on them.
Finally we move on to the Manchester United game this Saturday at Old Trafford. This is a game that many of us have dreamed about. A game that was the stuff of pure fantasy in some of the clubs darker days and they do not come much bigger than this opponent. The last time we played we managed to turn them over in their own backyard and we all hope that we can do the same again or at least come away with a valuable point. Manchester United and especially David Moyes are under huge pressure due to a very indifferent start to this year’s campaign so, we travel to Old Trafford at as good a time as any. We all hope that the chosen team play without fear, make the most of our underdog status, take the game by the horns and come away with some reward proving the so called experts wrong yet again.
And in response to these so called experts, my rousing tweet on Sunday evening says it all and struck a cord with a lot of Palace fans;
“They dont understand our club, our spirit, our desire & our strength. We bleed Red & Blue #cpfc #SouthLondonAndProud“.
