I'd go one level down to the level of Norwich for stability. Come up - don't buy a load of mercenaries, go down, get balloon payments. Keep low wages. Redo the ground - then try and save and invest some money in the squad after a few years. Think of the wages players get here to not play - we desperately need rid. I guarantee that's not the same at Norwich. Our academy will prove worthwhile then too - whereas right now they're 'never ready for the Mecca of the Premier League'.
Cup runs would also be fun, instead of a hassle.

Red and Blue Army!

If you want to know the club's level of ambition, consider this. In the 2021 financial report, it presented the arrival of Ebs as "a landmark signing and statement of intent".

This, with all due respect to Ebs, was a championship player who cost £16M down, a paltry sum in today's PL game.

The level to which our board aspires is 17th place, achieved with the minimum spend possible. That's the truth of it.

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

Wherever you want to build there will be one council or another that has to give planning permission.

There is little or no available land (where you would have any chance of getting permission)to build a new stadium with associated facilities within, probably, a 30-40 mile range of Selhurst Park, which is then raises the problem of transport links and costs to current fans that attend matches.

This has been looked at and rejected many times over the last few years...

Edited by becky (23 Mar 2023 12.43pm)

A stairway to Heaven and a Highway to Hell give some indication of expected traffic numbers

Relegation doesn't have to be devastating, during the last 10 years we've been in the Prem teams like Newcastle, Aston Villa and Wolves (we replaced Wolves) have been relegated and subsequently promoted. It just depends how well you are prepared for it, look at Fulham now and look at how well Burnley/Sheffield United have responded to Relegation.

Personally all hope has gone that we'll stay up this season. I want the board to have a solid plan for the aftermath of relegation and for us to fight back strongly next year. No, of course I would rather we didn't go down, just seems inevitable to me.

Relegation may not devastating for some as you say, but it is for many ... Charlton, Wigan, Stoke, Oldham, etc. If we go down, it may take years to get back (if ever)

For me relegation in the light some have suggested is quite a fanciful ideal I would suggest and will almost definitely not play out as some are imagining - Go down, sort ourselves out, rejuvenate the club etc is all well and good however I would ask to do what?

If the answer is then to get promoted to PL, stay up a few seasons, slowly build towards being a mid-table club and then look to challenge for Europe, we started that plan a decade ago and it hasn't really worked out. I think most of us are equipped to develop a strategy for the club however seeing it brought to life is just about as far from a guarantee as could be.

Come next season, I'd rather us be in the PL dreaming of what could be as opposed to being in the championship fearing what the future may hold. I could moan all day about the tourist attendees, lack of availability of tickets, high food prices etc however that's better than 8,000 attendances, playing nowheresville on weekdays and throwing an old flat cap outside Selhurst with a sign saying 'need new players, please spare any change'.

I recognise the desire to see greener grass on the other side however there is nothing romantic about relegation for me. It will only be taking a few steps backwards to try, most likely unsuccessfully, to come back forward to the exact same place again.

Last season looked like the next level, slightly better football and midtable obscurity. We've already stepped back from that and I'd like us to try to go forward if possible! Mid table, perhaps off of challenging for a European place but scarcely mentioned in any 'relegation battle' conversations would do me fine.

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