For me, by far the most impressive thing has been the planning. In that, Parish and Dougie are the real heroes.

From about eighteen months ago when, clearly, the original (and correct) decision to let a lot of contracts expire simultaneously was first made, we had a vision. it took some nerve to commit to rebuilding a team in that manner, not least in the face of a lot of doubters, many of them our supporters.

Having made that decision, a plan was clearly developed. Buy young. Buy flair. Buy Championship at sensible prices. Over a period, in came Eze, Olise, Hughes, Guehi, Andersson (indirectly, but by way of relegated Fulham), and on-loan Gallagher (by way of relegated West Brom). There's a pattern there. We made a plan and we stuck to it. Good foresight, good scouting, good decision-making. Real resolve to stick to the principles. True focus. You rarely see that in football, but we did it.

The icing on the cake; hiring a manager who was properly qualified (rather than a "star name" to do what we needed. We had patience last summer; didn't chase media-genic bosses like Lampard, and we didn't panic when the search took longer than we'd all have liked. End result. Vieira. And look how that's worked out.

It's all been quite stunning. In the last eighteen months, we've been an object lesson in how to run a football club and it's all down to planning more than anything else.

Meanwhile, Everton has spent about five times what we have, run through at least four managers, and is about to get relegated. Absolutely nothing in football, let alone at Palace, has been more impressive than the way we've developed a roadmap, stuck to it, and reaped the rewards.

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

You are right, but the club we've built as a result of the planning I talked about is not one players will want to leave, except for the very top.

Yes, we will lose players if Man City, Liverpool, Man Utd. and Chelsea come in. Possibly Spurs and Arsenal too. But that's true of every club in the league and nothing will ever change it. What has changed, however, is I don't think we're at risk of losing our best players to West Ham, Newcastle, Everton, Leicester, or Aston Villa (for instance), anymore.

If anything, I think in the transfer market we will now be arguably the first-choice destination outside of the aforementioned top 6. That's a different position to be in for us. Yes, West Ham has had one great year. But do you want to play for Moyes or Vieira? Eddie Howe or Vieira? Do you want to live in Newcastle or London? Do you want the s***show Moshiri runs or would you rather trust your career to Steve Parish? Do you want to play for a club that is very clearly on the up? I would say Palace and Villa are probably the two best destinations now outside the very top.

Footballers talk to each other. There's a grapevine. Look at the permanent smiles on the faces of our players this year. DO you think that goes unnoticed by other players around the league who might be our transfer targets? Do you not think three England debuts in a season doesn't appeal to players who want to make a breakthrough but aren't at their present clubs?

For the first time ever, I think we are in a position not to keep all our best players because the top 6 will always come calling for some of them, but at least to be an attractive destination when we need to find replacements.

Edited by sydtheeagle (07 Apr 2022 9.24pm)

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

Tad optimistic there I suspect with regard to comparison with West Ham.

Bowen and Benrahma have been sensational for them and they come from similar backgrounds to Olise and Eze and then there is Rice who outpoints Gallagher as well. It's a club that has brought through talent and has had two years of sustained success - only just missing out on the Champions League and right now very deep into Europe and with every chance of finishing ahead of United.

Also they may be well behind us right now but it's foolish to ignore the draw of Newcastle. They may take a few years to make it to the very top but they will get there. Howe isn't perfect but he's a very decent manager. Turning a club around midseason is significantly tougher than doing it from season start. They will attract plenty of good players.

The seamless transition between changing managers. Before a ball was kicked we were one of the favourites to be relegated and in my opinion that was a fair assessment. We had moved on 10 or so experienced pro's and brought in a host of youthful players who had promise. We also appointed a manager with no EPL experience. It is not often you make such wholesale changes and find that you end up improving both the performances and hopefully our finishing position.
The changes made now give use hope as the younger players are improving and this gives us optimism going forward. At the end of last season the feeling was we are going to do well to survive another season especially as our performance's were generally negative in nature.
Guehi has been an astute buy but i am generally excited on how Olise is going to turn out. He is the most talented player we have signed and has skills only elite players possess.

Indeed…