As the news breaks of another turbulent weekend forthcoming for the south London club the club’s supporters find themselves in a position that has more cross overs than ever before.
As the Selhurst staff prepared for what appeared to be a final press conference for Roy Hodgson we now look back with a number of unanswered questions. The press briefing was seemingly being delivered under the cloud of Roy’s imminent departure and the arrival of his impending replacement following media links to that effect.
Despite Thursday’s numerous storylines, there are many agendas rotating around Palace currently, many drawing fierce opinion across the fanbase.
Firstly, let’s look at the frequent display of discontent by the Holmsdale Fanatics. Rarely has there been such an open voicing of disapproval by the Ultras, these are normally saved to communicate the negative opinion of opposition visiting Selhurst Park or the state on English football. Some may feel that such negative tactics to make a point are counter productive and that when needed most, the fanbase has turned against the players.
These points can be justified and have validity but cast your mind back just a short while and you’ll be hard pressed to see a club with a loyal fan base that contributes so greatly to the unique atmosphere. You would be negligent to suggest that a fanbase that contributes so greatly cannot have the right to express their opinion when they feel the identity to which they have contributed is being taken away by a passive and underactive board.
Moving on to the board, where do we begin? It is relatively clear to see the foreign ownership do not consider Palace a priority as, when needed most much like the point made about our supporters, they have gone missing both in presence and in finance. The transfer window does not start in January. It begins the day it closes at the start of the season and work should begin on the targets for the January opening especially as this season above all, the target was clear, to find an attacking player to take Palace into the top ten as the brief was set out pre-season.
Do they really feel they equipped the squad with the players to move up the league especially with Michael Olise being out injured for such a long period?
We cannot hide away from Dougie Freedman and Steve Parish. You can be a supporter of the two but simultaneously consider them to be falling short of the required standard and decision making in enabling the current situation. Freedman, recently linked with a role at Manchester United, must understand that two underwhelming transfer windows have followed one of the most transformative in recent times.
The seeming acceptance to acquire second rate, injury prone players into the fold cannot be seen as an acceptable move, with the likes of Nathan Ferguson, Rob Holding, and Dean Henderson added with no great benefit to the club, the same can be said of Naouirou Ahamada and Matheus Franca who remain fit, but are they capable of adding the quality required by Palace?
Finally, Roy Hodgson enters the argument. Again, when considering Roy’s contribution you can both be a fan of his obvious achievements at Palace and be vehement in your opinion that enough is enough and his time is up.
The cards he has been dealt with squad size and quality cannot be ignored, but with seemingly few quality options and those that are of quality underperforming or injured, he must understand that his lack of variation in a squad so disparate is negligable. We are all pretty certain that he will have handled Olise’s circumstances at Brighton much differently. Hodgson’s experience cannot ignore that he has fallen well short of what is required to keep a team surviving let alone performing at this level.
Now we travel full circle and return to the supporters. Even if your experience is of following the Eagles during their recent Premier League tenure, you will know that this isn’t good enough. For those whose experience exceeds the top flight era, we are well placed to judge.
The dark days of administration brought many challenges and few can argue that the potential extinction of the club can be dismissed, but this latest drama feels very different.
Whilst administration brought obvious frustrations, there was hope – hope that the squad would pull together, fight for a cause and deliver what was needed to reset the club and push forward. Today, we sit in a club appearing to have split.
There appears to be strong fractions in the board room, a clear disconnect between management and player performances including the prospective talent on offer to the club.
Lastly, there appears to be a real lack of hope. A failure to believe we can arrest this slide, that the squad can deliver and that whatever this season brings, a boardroom structure that can truly bring some form of repair to the Palace woes.
