Writing a piece about Palace that goes out on a Sunday can sometimes be a challenging affair.
One always has to be careful. Say for example you write a piece about how great the goalkeeper is, then we get pulverized 6-0 on the Saturday with all goals being down to the keeper, the piece can somewhat lose its impact.
No one wants to read how great everything was, all that is on their mind is the drubbing we took and possibly a terrible a hangover from drinking to get over said result.
So what do I write about? Normally I throw in a little tale or take a whimsical look at things that are going on around the club. This week however I am blank.
Surely not Stuart, what is going on? You must have something to whinge about?
That is the thing. I do not have anything to whinge about. Everything Palace seems pretty blinking good at the moment and I have no idea how to deal with it.
Life under Alan Pardew is great. It feels different from last season when Tony Pulis came in. The Welshman was appointed to rescue us, he came in and made us hard to beat. We stopped conceding goals and ended up with one of the meanest defences in the league.
This season we were not in quite the same perilous position. We did not so much need rescuing, more putting back on track. Whatever Pardew has done seems to have had an instant impact. The players are brimming with confidence, we could not score a goal under Neil Warnock, now we are banging them in for fun. The transformation is remarkable.
At the beginning of January there was a panic about bolstering the squad. The need for a striker seemed paramount, that sense of panic seems to have dissipated. Now if we just get a left back in this window I will be more than happy.
The same squad kept us up last season and with the additions we made in the summer we should hopefully be on the path to safety.
But what is that you say? Despite us looking pretty healthy we are still bolstering the squad? And early in the window without panic? What the hell is happening Palace, should we not be looking to sign 39 year old striker on the stroke of midnight on deadline day?
This is so unlike Palace, but I must say I like it. Doing transfer business before deadline day is very reassuring, maybe we are finally getting things right when it comes to our dealings in the transfer window.
I am a firm believer of backing the manager, even if I am not particularly keen on them. I backed Warnock, if the club believed he was the man to take us forward I have to put faith in their decision. I am not a chairman of a football club, I sell ventilation equipment for a living. If Steve Parish started emailing me saying I had selected the wrong man for the job I would not be best pleased so in turn I leave the running of a football club up to him.
Despite my positivity it has now become abundantly clear Warnock was taking us backwards and undoing so much of the good work we achieved last season. We had stagnated. I do not believe he would have relegated us but it would have been a blinking horrible slog.
I am not saying that there will not be tough times ahead. We are still in a battle for survival but in a much better position than we were in December. We have achieved this with very little money spent. What Pardew has brought to Crystal Palace can not be purchased. Belief and confidence.
Belief and confidence are free but for our football club they could be priceless. Blimey, that was cheesy but I do not care.
Long may these good times last.
C’MON YOU PALACE!
