Another win on the road has meant Premier League safety is almost guaranteed for another season.
Our away form continues to earn plaudits, after all a good chunk of those victories over February and March has been the prime reason we are nearly mathematical safe.
It was not plain sailing at the Britannia Stadium, as it was not our finest display of the season as Julian Speroni had to pull off some wonderful saves to keep us in it.
The international break is now upon us, no Palace players have made Roy Hodgson’s squad this time to the dismay of some fans. I genuinely believe in the not so distant future we will see an Eagle grace the Wembley turf once again.
Glenn Murray
Since the turn of the year which coincided with Pardew taking the reins, Glenn Murray has been given his chance and he has proved that he can cut it in the Premier League.
Under Neil Warnock he was shipped out to Reading where he once again proved that in the Championship he can be a potent force upfront.
I always wondered whether Murray could score goals in the Premier League. He is not the most elegant of strikers to grace the top division but he can be effective, and he has proved that to me over the last couple of months.
He scored two goals at Upton Park before being sent off but it did not matter as the damage had already been done. He contributed to a fine first half performance against Queens Park Ranger, and you have to say those two games were pivotal in where we are currently perched in the table.
Given our injuries at the top end of the field Murray has been our only recognised centre forward on some occasions. He has proved his worth, not only scoring goals but his aerial prowess is something we have benefited from over recent weeks.
It worked at Stoke, against a team who are trying to shift that stereotype of ‘long ball punters’. It was a great leap and Wilfried Zaha willingness to get in behind paid off.
Murray signed a one year contract not too long ago, in this form there is no reason why he cannot gain another contract I think we could do with someone like Murray for the next couple of years.
Where Do We Go From Here?
As you know, here at the TEB we have a wonderful, talented set of writers (by the way I am not including myself in that, I will let the others decide!) who week on week produce some great stuff. This week’s article by Danielle Lowe ‘All This Talk Of Safety’ had something that stood out for me.
We have quality, we have promise, we have passion but we need something more. We need reputation, we need money, we need exceptional quality. If we are ever going to be a truly safe Premier League side doing better than just bumping along the road each year.
Danielle is right. We have pretty much everything in place to really take this club to the next level. We should not strive to become just an established Premier League club year upon year. We have to push the boundaries and Danielle has hit the nail on the head. Firstly, we need money and exceptional quality. I will come on to reputation shortly.
With this £5.1 billion television rights deal, money will be available to us in the summer and as the transfer rumour mill swings into overdrive we will hear plenty of names being linked. The summer is going to be huge for us. We do not generally spend well in the summer window with Ian Holloway being the prime example.
Alan Pardew in charge, those same mistakes are unlikely to happen again. The squad needs a few additions, quality additions though.
We do not need players at the level we already have, we have to bring in players that can take this club forward. If Pardew can emulate a Yohan Cabaye or Demba Ba transfer at SE25 that would be fantastic. We need to push on and the way to do that is to spend some dosh.
Back to that point on reputation, what do we mean by improving Palace’s reputation?
I feel there are two levels associated to this. Firstly, purely in a footballing sense, Palace have to bolster their reputation but I also feel off the pitch we need to harvest a reputation as well.
Expanding on the second point, harbouring a good reputation off the pitch also helps in this day and age of modern football. There has been so many problems involving the fans over the last few months and I hope Palace fans are not stupid enough to realise that we have been in news recently because of some unsavoury actions from a minority in the crowd.
We all know the Holmesdale Fanatics bring attention to the club. Some believe it is good attention, others believe it is unwanted attention. I will not go into this now as I have my views about them which merit a longer article and is a subject is for another time.
The reputation off the pitch has to be good and other fans who travel down to Selhurst Park know they are going to come and enjoy a game of football, great atmosphere and friendly hospitality. We hear it a lot, plenty of people have praised us for being a family welcoming club and we have to keep it that way.
Look out for a special standalone article next week. I will discuss this idea of Palace’s reputation in more depth and how a sustainable reputation could do wonders for our club.
