June 10 2004

Simon Jordan

Just when everything looks hunky-dory, chairman Simon Jordan has announced that he might sell the club. Jamesey can't believe it...

Take a small South London club. After a series of blunders and mismanagement fiascos, it nearly goes bust. Its supporters raise an unprecedented sum to keep it afloat but a saviour arrives in the form of a young self-made millionaire, himself an Eagles fan and a local boy.

Mistakes are made, but suddenly, after over three years of struggle and a revolving door management policy, the right man arrives and, totally out of the blue, gets the club promoted to the Holiest of Grails, the Premiership.

The fans are delirious with joy. The players (apart from J Gray, it seems) are over the proverbial at the thought of their enhanced career prospects and all that extra moulah, they hope. The manager and his staff are ecstatic and their satisfaction at a magnificent achievement is fully deserved.

And then what? The chairman says he wants to sell the club. Oh, Simon what is the matter with you? We all know you are averse to criticism but personally, I think some of the abuse you got on this very site was completely unjustified.

Mr Jordan talks of "decency, hard work and commitment being interpreted as arrogance, aggression an interference". I don't quite know where all this comes from but it has been pointed out many times that football clubs aren't mobile phone businesses. A football club has a heart and soul and you just can't apply the same commercial rules.

Anyway the purpose of this column is not to criticise Mr Jordan but to ask him to stay and enjoy the party. We are all realistic enough to realise that next season is going to be a bit of a slog to put it mildly.

I hope not, but we are expected to come straight back down. Personally I don't care. I am just going to enjoy myself and when we get turned over by some of the big boys, so be it.

In the unlikely event that Simon Jordan reads any unofficial websites, I ask him to reconsider. We've done the hard work now, so why not de-stress, relax and enjoy 2004-05?

I can say with some certainty that no one will be on Mr Jordan's back. The Dowie/Jordan axis seems to have worked extremely well. Let's have some more of it, please.

Email Jamesey with any of your comments to Jevans3704@aol.com

In Depth Jamesey's Veteran View Index

Feel like writing about a current Crystal Palace issue? Email it to us and we'll publish your words for Eagles around the world to read.