The ‘The Eagle Speaks’ moves to the Wednesday slot but continues to be our weekly article from devoted Palace fan and Holmesdale Upper Tier season ticket holder Paul Price ….
It is with great disappointment that there is not too much to write around Palace games this week due to the International (aka ‘key Palace Players get injured’) break.
A few of our players featured for their national sides in the shape of Delaney (Republic of Ireland), Jedinak (Australia), Pep (Algeria) and Mariappa (Jamaica).
Having watched the England game on Friday, through the usual gritted teeth that are evident when watching ITV Sport and the complete buffoon circus that is Andy Townsend, Clive Tyldesley and Adrian Chiles, it was good to see something good come out of this game as well as the actual result.
Andros Townsend (not related to the afore-mentioned buffoon) took his debut by storm with a very positive performance. He was keen to take the game to the opposition, scored a great goal and played a very big part in at least one the others too with a surging run down the wing to get behind Montenegro’s stubborn defensive line.
Andros was at one point rumoured to be a potential target for Palace during the last transfer window.
A player with this type of attitude has been missed for a long time in an England shirt and may actually go some way in improving the perception and enjoyment of watching the national team again for many. We will have to keep an eye out to see how he develops in the coming games and hope that this was not just a one-off.
With regards to the England game, the trumpet was just grinding, the plastic clappers were an appalling reminder of a certain evening last year at the Amex (although the result wasn’t bad) and the corporate brigade did as expected and missed an early goal in the second half due to scoffing prawn sandwiches and swilling Chardonnay. Anyway, onto Poland next and hopefully a win that will see us through to Brazil.
Back to Palace. Not much has really gone on at senior level and the only main news this week has been around Ramage’s injury blow for Barnsley (he is still one of ours) and Stuart O’Keefe backing Ian Holloway.
Of course, we had Freedman enquiring about a loan move for Zaha from Manchester United (seriously!) and some speculation about a few players that Holloway is interested in for the next transfer window. Other than that, nothing much else to report other than lots of opinions on the positives and negatives of smoke-bombs.
This is a subject that I am going to choose to avoid as if it were in the same category as ear piercing bangs and suffocating smoke inhalation.
The last article was mainly about the Liverpool game and covered the fall-out from some fans so maybe it is time for a different kind of thought provoking re-cap on our position and the good old Championship v Premiership debate.
This season to many is a stolen one and one that some will enjoy no matter how we do. Of course, we all want our team to win and perform well every week but, this just isn’t going to happen in this league as early results have demonstrated.
It is fully understood that it is a dream for many fans to see Palace in the Premiership and for many players it must also be the ultimate goal. Although this is one hell of an adventure and one that can and should be enjoyed. It needs to be looked at for what it is. Security and stability of the club (and therefore the money) was always going to be the most important thing to take us further away from those dark days of administration and give us the platform to build for the future.
The promotion to the Premiership has given Palace security and money, it has given us a chance to shine on the field in front of a bigger UK and global audience, it was given the world a glimpse at our club and great support and it has given us all a taster of the big boys league again however, are we truly happy to be where we are now from a purely non-financial perspective?
We are now having our fixtures dictated by Sky Sports, less games, dragged slowly into the world of “modern football” that is eating itself away from the inside and we are seeing the completely biased viewpoint that is spouted every week by the pundits.
It is clear to see that if you are not in the top six or so then you are not worth even discussing and certainly not in a positive, constructive or balanced fashion.
It is difficult to see in many ways if we are much better off than last season or any of the ones before. Last season for example was a truly great season that will live long in the memory because we had some great games, saw some awesome performances, won plenty of games along the way, had a laugh without the Premiership pressure and spotlight, beat them down on the South Coast in the play-off semi’s and won a final at Wembley. This was absolutely fantastic to witness and we should have no regrets about where we have ended up, however, do we all really know what we won other than the money and was this the promised land to some or the booby prize to others?
You have to wonder if we are any happier as fans (some definitely not so based on Twitter) and has being in the Premiership made us a better club with better supporters? These are questions that can only really be answered on an individual and personal level but the conscientious from the true fans is probably no if being honest.
From my perspective, I actually love the Championship and if somebody had said to me that we could take all of the money but stay in the Championship then I would have given this one hell of a lot of consideration and may have even accepted the offer at the time.
Surely support of our beloved Palace is bigger and more important than where sit in the top 2 leagues. Support of the club is the same for me if we were in the Premiership or the Championship. It simply does not make a difference. Despite a lot of consideration, it has been really hard to work out whether the Premiership has been the answer to our dreams this time around.
If we give the Premiership a really good go and stay up then that would be fantastic but if we were to go down then, so bit it.
If we do go down then we all just hope that we do it with some fighting performances and with having been given a fair a balanced playing field by the media and footballing authorities. We have and continue to make some friends along the way and still have our pride fully intact so whatever the outcome, it all bodes well for the future.
With a positive attitude and outlook this is difficult to say but, perhaps we do not have the quality to stay up (incidentally, I think that we do). If we do go down then the last transfer window built us a quality side that would be very competitive in the Championship and surely give us a great chance of returning next season. Maybe staying up is best for us in the long run and maybe getting relegated and bouncing for a few years is better for us as a club and for our long terms aspirations whatever they may be. None of this is supposed to come across in a negative way and it is just the reality of where we are as a club.
It is really odd and funny to see the expressions on people’s faces when you explain what really matters is the support, the club’s stability, belonging to something special and just being a part of Crystal Palace FC through the good times and the bad.
I guess that this is just something that some of the plastic and glory hunting fans of other Premiership clubs will never ever be able to understand or comprehend. With this in mind, it is clear to see that as fans we are richer than many no matter where we sit in the league tables.
