Hello and welcome back to Fan Chat on TEB, in a week where the true price of football has been revealed, with the annual BBC Sport price of football survey.
It is a place where we can see that Palace fans pay £20 per goal, but get some of the cheapest tickets and kit in the league which is a bit of good news for the fans. The Premier League has done wonderful things for our club, when you look at the quality of our squad and the updates around the stadium, however it has come at a price, mainly in the cost of tickets and merchandise.
It is all very well the survey highlighting that we have some of the cheapest prices in the Premier League (except our ‘artisan‘ pies) however four years ago I could go to watch a Palace game for twenty quid and come home with change. Now it is a fifty quid day out, which for me, is near enough a days wages, hence why I have not been to a game in over a year now.
Becoming a global brand is costing Crystal Palace some of their most loyal fans, in my opinion, however you cannot ignore the obvious fact that the board are doing everything they can to assist dedicated Palace fans, providing subsidised coach travel for away games is one example of their excellent initiatives.
And that is the thing, it is silly and petty of me to complain about prices, when we all know that is what you get when your team are at this level. The motivation for me is to save the pennies and get to a game, because I would rather see us continue our success in the Premier League. You have only got to look at the likes of West Ham United and Arsenal, to see just how lucky we are that we have owners that do not thrive on ‘Premier Greed’.
There are a few things I have picked up on from this exceptionally comprehensive survey, one being the price of Manchester City season tickets, the second cheapest in the league, which I think is commendable for a top four club. I know their owners are so rich that they could probably give them away for free, but it is nice to see even foreign owners with little other than a business interest in the club, supporting the fans with excellent value prices. That contributes to the fact that city fans only pay £6 per goal.
You can delve into the many and various facts within this survey, but the point remains that Palace fans pay on average, much less per match day than the average fan does in the Premier League. I do admire our fans for their loyalty despite the hike in prices, and they are being rewarded by some excellent performances in the Premier League this season. Undoubtedly, the highlight of these performances was the West Bromwich Albion result two weeks ago where we played exceptionally.
This week it is West Ham, and by the time you read this the game will be over and we will have a result. I admire the Hammers (despite their often over demanding fans) as they have transformed their team from Premier League mediocrity to genuine top eight contenders, and we will face a real fight against them to maintain our momentum and keep us in the top four. I genuinely cannot see us staying in the top four a huge amount of time longer, so I am relishing these moments and it is a world away from our other Premier League campaign starts, which has almost guaranteed our safety this season already.
Both teams have exciting and talented managers who love attacking football, and a group of players who perform week in week out. I have been to more games against West Ham than any other team, including the play-off final win in 2004 when I was just nine years old. I still remember that game clearly and winning it was one of the best feelings I have ever felt. Neil Shipperley, who was no spring chicken, got the luckiest of tap ins in typical Palace fashion which sent us soaring to a season in the Premier League. The lowest point from my Palace versus West Ham history was watching us lose 3-1 last season at home, incidentally this was the last Palace game I went to. A draw, in my opinion, will be an excellent result for us this weekend, I just hope Alan Pardew does not put Yannick Bolasie up front!
I have been reading some interesting articles during the international break, about what we should do about our lack of presence up front. Many people are calling for Dwight Gayle to be given consistent time in the team, others are calling for a new striker in January. For me, the temporary solution is obvious, Bakary Sako, who has a bullet left peg, should be stuck up front, with support from Jason Puncheon along with Wilfried Zaha and Bolasie.
We have put ourselves in a difficult position really, and I maintain my stance that we should have put more effort into signing a true, prolific Premier League striker. Loic Remy and Charlie Austin are two obvious targets, and with one of them in the team, we would probably have found it a lot easier to get the results we have achieved so far this season. It appears we are working much harder than other teams to get results, which is all very well at the moment, but later in the season that could take its toll on the team.
Obviously this is just my opinion, and one that is often proved wrong, so I hope either Gayle or Connor Wickham step up and make me eat humble pie. I just hope we can maintain our form and once again finish in the top ten, and maybe do even better.
Only time will tell.
