Just reading about Hull losing Steve Bruce. They've lost key players and are finding it near impossible to buy PL quality replacements now looking odds-on to go down (so I guess he's leaving on a high to hopefully land a better club). We all know the feeling of not being able to buy decent players, but thankfully, in this our fourth PL year in a row, the three signings of Mandanda, Tomkins and Townsend send a strong signal that the tide is turning. Betting odds show us mid-table, and a safe option for newcomers. This is why we have to bite the bullet and buy Benteke and I think Berahino too - if we have the budget for that. Relegation odds are 6-1, still a good bet, and we need to blow that out to 20+ to 1 by buying the players we know we need and digging ourselve into the PL, with all its TV money, as one of the ongoing regulars. So, I would just pay the money asked and get ready for a cracking season.

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Didn't mark Goldberg have a similar ethos?

Its not like we haven't made some big offers, we've broken our transfer record already, and we've made bids of 30m for two players.

But we also have to live within our real means in terms of wages. We can afford to lose 30m on a season, we can't afford to lose 5-10m a season per player if we're relegated.

Problem is, players may not be as interested in playing for Crystal Palace as we would be.

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
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We are Crystal Palace. Promoted a few years ago and not really challenging for Europe. Look at Southampton and West Ham, as two examples, look at the calibre of players they are signing.
We must be patient and hopefully SP and AP will bring in the players we need.
IMO, I think we are 3 players off being back to a top 10 team, so let's not panick. I would say our squad is better now than it was last season, so we should only be able to improve.

As I said on another thread, the continual attempts to dine out on our so-called 'atmosphere' are embarrassingly reminiscent of The Weeds only boast, that they have a new stadium. Players joining Palace are hardly likely to rave about the state-of-the-art training facilities or the fantastic changing rooms are they?

Edited by bexleydave (27 Jul 2016 10.48am)

Bexley Dave

Can you hear the Brighton sing? I can't hear a ******* thing!

"The most arrogant, obnoxious bunch of deluded little sun tanned, loafer wearing mummy's boys I've ever had the misfortune of having to listen to" (Burnley forum)

Sorry to disappoint but I am sure our atmosphere doesn't feature when a high end player is making a decision on his next career move. Why would it?! Our atmosphere at times is average and year on year it will get worse if we stay in the Premiership ... just the nature of the beast. Yes, we can pull it out of the bag for key fixtures but let's not get carried away thinking it helps in convincing modern day players to ply their trade in SE25!