Weekends always feel better after a Palace win, right?
I seem to think so. However, having only had four good weekends this year I was getting a little frustrated both with Palace, and with boss Alan Pardew.
Having never ever been in a position before where I have wanted a manager to leave, for the first two weeks of this season I was part of the ‘Pardew Out’ brigade. I have no shame in admitting this, and although it felt wrong, the statistics really were not in his favour.
Four wins in the league in 2016 really was not acceptable and normally any other manager, a Pulis, a Holloway, or even, dare I say it, a Millen, would have been sacked way before this point.
As Pardew has a rapport with the club and a favourable reputation as a player, he has had a pretty strong lifeline. That along with the fact that chairman Steve Parish clearly wanting to retain some stability into an otherwise erratic club. The decision is right and not just because I am writing this after our first league win of this season.
We will all look back at the showing against fellow strugglers Bournemouth as a turning point for our season. It was a typically Palace style performance, outplayed for forty-five minutes by arguably the weakest side, come in at half time lucky to be one goal down, go out and absolutely batter them in the second half, without scoring, and leaving it to the last minute of injury time to find an equaliser.
Pardew’s ability to fire the team up is unmatched. In the FA Cup final where we kept pace with a United side full of talent, after we had had the single most miserable five months in my living memory is a good example of this. We put in a dire performance in the league the previous weeks, then turned up when it mattered.
The club is losing its previously lovable personality, the exciting, but rubbish performances and personal touch with the fans, which always goes no matter what club you support, as it comes with the whole Premier League package. It seems the league money has corrupted us a bit, and I long to have the ambitious but rubbish underdog tag part of Palace back. It seems that we have lost a part of the soul and identity of the club on our journey up the football pyramid.
This is where I turn controversial, and where a lot of you may disagree with me, however, I feel it should be said.
If we are relegated, it would not such a bad thing. In fact, I would welcome it. Supporting Palace in what is probably the toughest league in the world was so exciting. You never knew what was going to happen. We would turn up against the league leaders and batter them, then go to Bristol City on a rainy Tuesday night and lose. It is the unpredictability and excitement that drew me to love Crystal Palace, something that is lacking currently.
Also, I miss being able to go to the games. Aside from a pre-season friendly against Colchester United which I attended representing TEB as a birthday treat of sorts, I have not seen Palace play home or away for over two years. The reason, you may ask? Well, being a student, travel is difficult, home games are a six hour round trip. Unfortunately, the club cannot do anything about that, however they can do something about the absurd match day prices, which for a fan short on funds like myself, means I have to sell my soul to attend games. Previously, I would always attend at least two or three a season, usually as a treat, however this has not been possible due to the clubs absurd and, dare I say it, greedy stance on ticketing.
If I wanted to watch Palace play Manchester City at home, like I did last season, I had to pay for a membership, then a ticket to the game, then a Category B game that, due to University commitments, I would not have been able to attend. The total cost? £79. That is before I have even factored in the cost of getting there, food and drink and then getting back. Before you know it I have spent nearly one eighth of my student loan, on ONE day. You might think I could try and sell the Category B game on, however, the terms and conditions state that I cannot re-sell the tickets on to a genuine fan. Madness.
It is sad to admit, as I enjoy watching Palace just as much as every other fan. I would hope it is sad for the club too, who have lost a passionate fan from the stands, that used to sing their heart out in the Y block of the Arthur every year consistently for ten years. I am unlikely to be the only one either.
No doubt there will be some who strongly disagree with me, and enjoy the security that the Premier League has given us, both financially and structurally, meaning that the club are unlikely to face uncertainty any time soon. But with that, the club has pushed the fans further and further away, almost alienating them, to ensure they generate as much money as possible. A good business plan? Perhaps. A good football club? Probably not.
There is a balance. I fully understand why these charges are in place, and how it is important to keep pricing in line with other clubs. Further to this, I get how some decisions I do not like are not made by the club, rather the Premier League, who really have far too much power over smaller clubs in their league.
However, I cannot help but prefer it when Palace were in the small time, doing things in our own unique and special way. Now it feels like we are blending into ‘just another Premiers League team’. There is nothing that makes us stand out anymore, and I do not know about you, but it just does not feel as special as it used to.
Do not get me wrong. I am still proud to be a Palace fan. I just do not feel pride in what we are doing at the moment.
4 comments
Jamie Lawrence,
Hi, you have only been supporting CP for a few years. I have been supporting them since 1964.
The club has made more effort to become fan based than any team in the PL and for that matter the whole of the football establishment. The connection to the community is second to none. Be a part of that setup and help it grow. It has tremendous potential and why not help it develop?
When you have seen the crazy heads that have tried to run the club before your time, you will get the idea what I am saying. We almost did not have a club to support on two occasions. There maybe others that were nearly as bad which we do not know about.
However, I am a little worried about how the Ultra fan base is developing . There maybe some rouge element creeping in. I hope the leaders within the group take steps to weed them out as they could destroy the real fan base the group have so successful developed.
CP is still a small club on a worldwide scale and it is people like you that need to have the passion to ensure CP is small but at the next level. CP does not have much chance at the moment of increasing its seating capacity to around 40,000. That in itself will keep the club small however, being small has its implications when the TV money stops? Who pays for the vast overhead structure that has been created as a result of the financial inflow of money into the game?
The owners are seeking other ways to engage support for the club thereby securing good supporters. In the modern era it could be possible but in a different way from the past. That is likely to happen world wide scale and it will be a different game all together so far as club supporters are concerned. An exciting small world wide club will be the next step for you to embrace.
Do not forget there is always relegation to the championship or below. That will hopefully help keep clubs from getting too big for their boots. Then as mentioned the TV money has the potential of running out, redirected to Europe or elsewhere, so there are some significant implications.
Keep supporting CP as they will carry on being a small club and will carry the banner for sometime to come. The next step should be world wide. Enjoy the challenge and the change it could be good not heart breaking.
Good read Jamie, the club have definitely distanced themselves from the fans
“Absurd match day prices” : Category B games are £21 for students in the Arthur. I was going to say more but I think that says it all.
I am with Neil Davidson here. As a supporter since 1957 I find it hard to criticise our current position. The club is more stable than it has ever been and is still growing. We have arguably a better team to watch than ever before but because of the money in the Premier League so have all clubs so it is harder to compete. Pardews record as manager is still very good albeit that he had an unbelievably good first year followed by an unbelievable poor set of results at the end of last season. He has taken us to a cup final and enabled us to attract players like Benteke and Cabaye, Flamini and Remy instead of Shefki Kuqi et al. We are trying to play better football but a change of style takes time and getting away from Matty Lawrence hoofball is to be welcomed. We have a bigger fan base than ever before because the Premier League is beamed worldwide but us oldies turn up to Selhurst regardless. If tickets were cheaper you would have queue online for hours to try to get one because of the demand that would bring. Looking back to days in the Championship I remember a half empty stadium at best and none of the fantastic support and atmosphere we have now. I remember long ball football, wooden (broken) seats, rain dripping through the roof and fans just as disgruntled as you are but for different reasons. We cannot become a big club because of our stadium capacity although those people who want Pardew replaced want better results, a higher place in the League table and so European football perhaps. For a club our size Pardew is a good man to have as manager, CPFC 2010 have brought stability the fans have given the club atmosphere. From days of administration and despair it looks pretty good to me!
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