Wouldn’t it just be a Palace thing to do to be relegated the very year it starts to build the new stand?
This is not another anti Hodgson or anti Parish thread, but an attempt to try and understand the logic of the club’s approach.
These are not stupid people running the club.
However,
1)By my calculations we have spent in excess of £60 million since the summer, but have not addressed the main priority -a replacement for Zaha.
I’m not talking a like for like replacement as that would be very difficult, but a player who can fill the yawning gap on the left side of our attack.
We haven’t even addressed this via the loan market.
Since Mitchell has little in the way of attacking skills and Schlupp is past his best we carry zero threat down the left.
Some might suggest that Franca was earmarked for this role, but he looks a totally different type of player to Zaha.
2) Following on from the above, the money has been spent in a way that’s difficult to understand. We’ve purchased a keeper when we already had a perfectly good one in Johnstone, we bought a centre half when we already have 4, we bought an expensive young Brazilian who the manager doesn’t seem to trust.
There seems to be a disconnect between who we’ve bought and what we actually need.
3) The Doucoure injury is unfortunate, but perhaps the same cannot be said in quite the same way about Olise and Eze. Both sadly have chequered injury histories which make it unlikely that either will be able to complete 38 game seasons. This problem seems to be compounded by the apparent disconnect between the medical team and the management.It’s a huge gamble to rely on these two players in isolation.
4) Which brings me to the new stand. Has the obsession with the new stand mean the club has taken its eye off the ball in other areas? This is not to suggest that the new stand is a bad idea, but has it deflected attention from on field matters? Others have suggested that the finances for the stand are totally separate from e.g the transfer budget but I can’t pretend to understand these aspects.
5) We don’t seem to have a succession plan for the manager in contrast to e.g Brighton who seem relaxed about a possible departure for DeZerbi, knowing they will have a replacement lined up.
We seem to like to keep older players around the scene, but is there a reasoning in place as to what they bring?Are they best in class which is what we should be striving for?

In conclusion it is difficult to see a joined up approach or strategy to our approach this season and beyond.

I love how suddenly everyone knows how to run the club better than Steve Parish.

I don't presume to know the thought processes behind decisions. I merely have the right to agree or disagree with them based on face value.

I think the warning signs were there for Olise's fragility way before this season, but you can't just find a deputy for a player like him, nor could we probably afford them.

Certainly, I thought that we needed to boost the squad in certain obvious positions in the summer and was surprised when we ended up with a luxury untested youngster and another goalkeeper. Equally, I also thought that if there was any season that we would be comfortably safe from relegation, it would be this season. I'm guessing that the Chairman thought that too.

Unfortunately, events have conspired against us this time and the last thing we need now is disharmony.

Realistically, we have probably lost two games that we should have won this season. We have got two new quality players and must now find some grit to get through this difficult spell.

Solidarity.

Everybody makes mistakes.

Parish is far better qualified than I am to run the club. But he's not infallible and I am commenting on where I think things could have been done better or differently.

I agree that the injuries to Eze and Olise could not have been foreseen, but it's back to the old issue of the strength of the squad overall.

I would say realistically, the performances, even in the few wins we have enjoyed this season, have left a lot to be desired.

I've defended Hodgson on here for months, but recent events have left me now firmly in the ' Hodgson Out ' camp. The Olise farce on Saturday was the final straw for me.

Old, Ungifted and White

Very good post.
I would add that Zaha was never going to be easy to replace, but we haven't even tried.
Another part of planning that hardly exists at Palace unlike Brighton is selling our stars at the right time when a good offer comes in. We are just not geared up right. Zaha could easily have commanded £65m but instead got a massive wage increase and ended up going for zero. That was not good business.

I don't think people do in reality. But its hard to disagree with anything in NEILLO or PatrickA's posts. Not replacing Zaha, odd expensive signings, playing half injured players and getting surprised when they get injured again, getting an out of touch manager in. Not utilising the loan market, the list could go on.

The job is an incredibly hard one, made harder by the comparative lack of finances.

But some of the decision making is baffling.

I'm not questioning people's right to discussion or disagreement.

What erks me is some of the vitriolic nonsense aimed at Parish and Hodgson on various Palace forums and on match days.
This unfortunate episode seems to have exposed a rather unsavoury element in our fan base who have totally unrealistic ideas about our status and think it's OK to hurl abuse at players, manager and chairman.

I feel sorry for our two new boys, who must wonder what the hell they have walked in to.