Agree - I think there is a bigger picture behind the scenes with;

- Stabilise the club financially and reduce the wage structure of the club
- Build up the academy
- Upgrade the Main Stand

All this is only possible if we are in the Premier League. This is the clubs ambition and our playing style has sacrificed as a result. Even more so during a pandemic.

Also.....we seem to be missing the progress under Roy despite the biggest negative spend in the prem in his four year spell.

- minus 11m net spend in Roy’s reign
- most premier league points after 29 games in our history
- most points total in a top flight season since 1992
......is this not progress????

Anyone would think the clubs going backward!

Good post , I know this is a negative way of looking it but everyone bar the big 6 and Everton will at some point be relegated , the point being clubs like West Ham and Newcastle are more likely to come back quickly then the likes of Palace, Brighton, Wolves , Watford, Bournemouth etc. So how do we get to that point , if we had gone down a few years back we would have pretty much had a slightly enlarged fan based and some good memoires . If we go down now we have the academy, given the amount of quality players that come from South London that is pretty important, I’ve being getting text from a gooner mate this afternoon about Smith-Rowe being the Croydon-De Bruyne so if the next generation Smith-Rowe or Loftus-cheeks are playing for Palace not a bad thing.
If we go down a few years from now after the New old stand has been built and we have had a few years of 35k fans and improved income even less of a problem especially if we have half a dozen good youngsters coming through.
Ok, spending money on infrastructure is boring ,and over last few years there has probably been more focus on the long term rather then the short term which has lead to an aging squad. I’m sure that many on here will see this as missing an opportunity to push on but that is to ignore the fact that in the last 20 years West Ham have been in the Championship more times than they have been in the top half, again it is depressing but in the premier league money largely counts and sensible progress is improving the worst scenario while hoping for the best rather then taking a punt of the best case scenario.
If we are dull and boring and finish 13th next season and starting work on the development that is progress and fine by me.

One supporter of hacking argued that without it "you will do away with the courage and pluck of the game, and I will be bound to bring over a lot of Frenchmen who would beat you with a week's practice -Blackheath secretary at first meeting of the F.A

we are Palace. Bloody hard going for as long as i can remember.

Kayla did Anfield & Old Trafford

And here is the nub of the disagreement. Many of us, including me, would be more than happy to achieve between 41 and 45 points in the top division every season. We may not be going forward, but we are not regressing either. There are worse places to be than in the middle of the top division for what will soon be nine successive seasons, with a cup final thrown in too. Any sustainable improvement from here would require hundreds of millions of investment to compete. It is not going to happen.

I feel that unless the club has the extremely good fortune to be taken over by some wealthy billionaire (very unlikely) then we have reached our peak with with a top half finish tantalisingly just out of reach. 45ish points is our max.

As some have explained in detail it is irrelevant having wealthy owners. It is to do with your ability to earn income as to whether you can spend money on players.

Wealthy owners can buy you a new ground but you are looking at 5-10 years before that is done and the size of the club reaches the critical mass where you can start competing for top players in the transfer window.

We are, along with at least another 10-12 teams in the PL just treading water and nothing really will change. The big teams bias created by FFP has sown up the league in terms of a realistic chance of competing at the top level by making it impossible to do another Chelsea or Man City.

Leicester is the only exception to the rule and they have semi broken into the big time and credit to them for doing so.

If the big teams truly get their way they will not even have to qualify for the CL and their guaranteed £100m for getting there will of course cement their ability to buy the top players.

In short, unless the FFP rules are changed we are never going to become a top team.