Very correct.

I totally disagree with the whole 'we were s*** for years so stop complaining' mentality. It's very possible to remember where we've been yet still hold high ambitions for where we're going.

We have been told on numerous occasions by Steve Parish that we are a club with a huge catchment area in terms of fans and players, I remember the phrase 'frightening potential' being used. So if even the chairman recognises that this isn't our ceiling, why do we as fans persist with a mentality of being happy about where we are with no ambition to progress further?

Sheffield United have proved that it is possible to play decent football and be successful on a much smaller budget than we have if you have a manager with the right philosophy. There's no way that they are a bigger club than us. Neither are Burnley.

Fans are rightfully questioning Roy's refusal to try anything other than his tried and trusted first XI and his negative tactics, despite our woeful run of form and the fact that there is nothing to play for.

If he won't experiment with youth and fringe players now then he never will. Ultimately football is meant to be fun and, with the exception of the United game when we were unlucky, there has been nothing fun about watching Palace recently.

Edited by Canterbury Palace (18 Jul 2020 3.13pm)

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold...

Put it down to the gallows humour of long-suffering Palace fans. We daren't dream too high (publicly). Sadly, the days when a team could come up and storm a division based on managerial brilliance and astute player selection (think Shankley's Liverpool early 60s, Derby and Forest under Cloughie) have long gone. Today it's all about money and status. The big teams get bigger, the rest of us pick up crumbs from their table, a league cup there, an FA Cup here and the once in a generation opportunity that enabled Leicester to do the unthinkable.

I deliberately said money AND status because money alone doesn't necessarily do the job (Fulham and Villa have found that out and West Ham faltered badly despite the millions given to Pellegrini.

As for Sheff Utd their nett spend last summer was OVER 60 million, so I don't know why you think they have a smaller budget than us.

Many of us oldies are thankful for what we have - the best ever run in the top flight plus a recent major cup final appearance (only the second in our history).

We acknowledge that if a billionaire came in and bankrolled us a la Citeh, Chelsea, Man U etc. we might well hit the big time, but that's unlikely because we are not a fashionable team. The billionaires will look at the likes of Newcastle, Leeds, Everton, Villa etc. etc. before they will look at us.

Edited by doombear (18 Jul 2020 3.52pm)

I respectfully disagree. Think Wilder is too good for that.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold...

Sheffield United have come up and stormed the division this season based on managerial brilliance and astute player selection. Unless you're referring to actually winning the league, in which case Leicester obviously did it 4 years ago in their second season.

I actually think the top six are increasingly broachable. There is so much money in the league now that even traditionally unfashionable clubs can recruit top class players, even if just as a stepping stone. Liverpool and City are currently in a class of their own but clubs like Arsenal and Spurs are falling back into the pack.

Sheffield United spent 60m last summer but we also spent heavily in our first couple of seasons and our wage bill is miles higher. Even if they qualify for the Europa League I doubt they'll spend that much again this year.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold...

I agree with both of you but I suppose I have to admit to being impatient for some progress. I do not have any intention upon slagging anyone off. There are too many reasons and too many scapegoats to find but...
We all want to feel we are moving forward. After 7 years in the Premiership I personally feel we are not much safer from relegation today than we were in year one. The squad is aging and (up to now at least) there has not been anywhere near enough investment/reinvestment in the playing squad. Our first 11 are good, our squad depth is the weakest in the division.
Playing devils advocate I think people want to see us become stronger year on year and many of us see the club scraping survival on a minimum spend (almost waiting to get caught out) and using safe pair of hands Roy to keep us up.