Palace have reached a critical moment. A treatment room full of crocked first team players. Four points from eight matches. The toughest December schedule of any Premier League club (source – Opta), and we’re sliding quickly, quietly and not always gracefully towards the relegation zone.
The Results We Needed – And Didn’t Get
Bournemouth, Luton, Everton, Forest and Fulham – all teams we might reasonably expect to beat. But five games brought just two points. The warning lights are flashing because the entire basis of how Roy Hodgson keeps teams up is to beat bottom half teams. Fail and you’ll go down. That’s why the wheels came off for Roy at Watford.
Ten years, tenth our best, fifteenth our worst. Are Palace just making up the numbers? Fans are stressed. Roy’s new tendency to blurt, apologise, repeat is making enemies he never had before. What next?
With the Board mostly silent on the issues that matter most, we’re all watching for signs that our hopes and expectations can genuinely be raised for a happy new year. It looks increasingly like it’s the January transfer window that will tell us all we can expect for our team.
Paying For Bad Decisions?
The situation Palace now face was born of two gambles last summer by the board that now look like they might be distinctly shaky. Steve Parish extended Roy’s contract, and the lack of new signings suggest the board thought that this year’s bottom three would be the worst ever, meaning that they could perhaps get away with investing less. Steve might be regretting both decisions as you read this.
Money
The club doesn’t have enough. Look at the money we’ve lost (in the last three years for which information is available:
2019/20 Lost £61m
2020/21 Lost £40m
2021/22 Lost £24m
Selling Shares?
Recently there were rumours in the media of a possible £45m capital raising. This suggests Palace might be close to generate welcome funds, although Steve has said money raised would be earmarked for infrastructure spending (i.e. the Main Stand extension). The Main Stand has now become a £150m project, which Steve says will add £20m to £30m a year in revenue, although interest and running costs will eat big holes before they calculate the annual profit on that number.
Adding a lot of new shares might create a new problem too as it might upset the balance of power at board level. At the moment, the corporate structure is carefully designed to give Parish a measure of control despite being outnumbered in both votes and shares, but that might change very fast if new shares are issued.
Loan Players?
We need players early in the window who are instantly Premier League ready, and the loan market does offer a fast and inexpensive way to plug gaps. Roy has said that right now Parish and Dougie Freedman are examining loan possibilities, and it’s essential that we bring in players who are motivated to be picked for the team and perform – and that’s a combination we’ve rarely seen from previous January loan arrivals at Selhurst.
Selling a Star?
Parish says the club is “in the best shape since I joined in 2010” which is good news, but then again, we were bust when he joined so we’re bound to be better off, aren’t we? Anyway, facts are facts.
Parish has done an exceptional job to extend the playing contract for four key members of the squad – Michael Olise, Sam Johnstone, Jordan Ayew and Eberechi Eze. This means that, if we do have to sell, the fee will at least be maximised.
And, according to Transfermarket, Palace now own no fewer than thirteen players valued at £10m or more! The gossip columns have a queue of clubs knocking on the door for our stars. Although a player sale would help with FFP restrictions, nobody wants Palace to be forced to sell one of our gems. But don’t rule it out.
A Divided Club?
We’re all ambitious for our team, so the last thing we need is a split. We have to stick together. But we may have a split, and it’s right at the very top of our club.
Realistic Ambitions….
Parish excited Palace fans last May when he said: “What’s the point of just being here for ten years, just to cling on to the status of being in the division and the odd cup final?” Parish has repeatedly told fans they can now expect the club to reach “the next level”.
…..Or Not?
Hodgson said recently: “We hope every year we will do a bit better. I’m tired of hearing people talk about moving to the next level because moving to the next level reminds me of Charlton.”
This Matters Because….
Roy has delivered safety up to now, but Palace’s most effective recruitment in recent years happened in 2021 after Roy had left. And Roy evidently doesn’t rate our two of our biggest 2022 signings at all, so much so that £35m of players (Ahamada and Franca) have been glued to the bench for months where their value and their love for Palace ebb away on a weekly basis. We all know that Roy would never have played Aaron Wan Bissaka in the first team if he could have avoided it.
When attracting players (temporary or permanent), Palace need to show them focused ambition and a real ability to deliver. Youngsters will be encouraged by the success of Wilfried Zaha, Tyrick Mitchell, Wan Bissaka, Victor Moses and more from the academy, as well as Marc Guehi, Olise and Eze getting into the team young and using their time with Palace to break into the big time.
Players of all ages who are approached by Palace may however be more concerned because nobody knows who will succeed Hodgson and lead this project. The coach and his ambition are all that talented footballers and their families care about.
Roy’s Future With Palace
Roy will fight like fury to keep his job and keep us up if only because he doesn’t want to end his long and amazing career with two successive relegations. He’ll never be a part of the dressing room in Palace’s future.
Am I Losing My Perspective?
Roy says I am, because he was a Palace fan before anyone else at Selhurst can remember. But I know what I see with my own eyes. I remember hopeless home defeats years ago against Crewe, Sunderland and Birmingham, and Bournemouth did feel like those. It doesn’t have to end in tears, but our spidey senses have us distinctly worried. Right?
