Why was Veira 'supposedly' considering the Leeds job and why were Palace 'supposedly' happy to let him go? It doesn't sound like a harmonious relationship to me. Probably something to do with lack of activity in the transfer market for PV and certainly lack of results for the board.

Denial is not just a river in Egypt

Chances are the problems are lack of funds. Pro football is all about money now. Nothing more nothing less.

And sadly I don't see any serious funds coming from existing shareholders.

That would be typical Palace - Investors suddenly realise they need to do something & reach for the cheque book only to realise that there isn't another transfer window until the Summer when by then it might be too late -

If not surprised I think Pat was probably relieved and expecting it for some time.

That said, in the future what I’d like SP and Co. to do is throw stones at his bedroom window, late at night, and play the Righteous Brothers’ ‘you’ve lost that loving feeling’ on a boombox held overhead.

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

My understanding is Textor runs a fund that invests in sports teams. So not, it's not his money (well, some of it is as he owns shares in the fund) but investing in sports teams is what that money is for, be it Palace or another team. Obviously, investors want a return so they're not going to simply fund the clubs in which they invest a la Abramovich, but on the other hand they are risk averse so the last thing they'd want to do is risk their investment through relegation. That's probably why Textor wanted to spend in January. He saw the risk (or not buying in the window) that Parish clearly did not.

Harris and Blitzer operate on the same basic model as Textor, also running a sports investment fund. The difference is that their funds is far bigger and contains vastly more of their own money, because they're vastly wealthier than Textor is. Ironically, they do have the money to spend freely on Palace but they're, as you say, much less willing to spend it.

I think we have two hopes:

1. All or some combination of Harris, Blitzer, and Textor now realise from the experience of flirting with relegation this season that not spending creates a threat to the value of their asset and therefore, whether they're enthusiastic about doing so or not, they spend far more than they have in the past (until they can sell the club), starting this summer, or...

2. Having failed with their Chelsea bid and almost certain to fail with their Man. Utd, bid, Harris and Blitzer decide "well, if we can't get hold of a big club, we'll have to make something out of Palace". Well, roughly like that. Sometimes a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. Just maybe, two failed bids for other clubs returns their focus to and enthusiasm for Palace. Likely? Maybe not. But you can hope. It's not impossible.

One thing, though, is certain. Perhaps for different reasons, it's in none of the owner's interests to see Palace relegated. It'd cost them far more to go down than it would to invest a little more in the team and stay up. That's a lesson we have to hope they've learned with the experience of this season.

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.