Friday 18 June 2010

George (and Steve’s) Marvelous Medicine.

Morning all! It’s certainly been a while!

First things first, we at PTTP would just like to point out how good it feels to be able to come out of blogging limbo to put up an article that didn’t have a title along the lines of “What We Loved About CPFC.”


For a while, it didn’t look good- but thanks to all the fans that campaigned for our future, the supporters trust, Brendan Guilfoyle and his team, Lloyds PLC and of course CPFC2010, we finally have a new (hopefully successful) era to look forward to. As of yesterday afternoon- I officially lost interest in the World Cup. Who needs Cabanaga, Jabulani and vuvuzelas when you’ve got new owners, a new manager and a brand new fixture list? Roll on August!


CPFC2010 have really impressed so far, and I’d be fairly surprised if there was a single Palace fan that didn’t feel the same. For those of you that frequent the BBS and The Holmesdale Online, you’ll be well aware that Mr Parish (posting under the name CPFC2010) very bravely opened himself up for a direct Q&A with the fans. What a simple, novel, refreshing concept; engaging directly with your customers without anybody having to put on their shoes. The guy should get a job in marketing or something.


We observed the thread with great interest and quite honestly, we waited for ‘CPFC2010’ to reveal himself as some sort of Beadle reincarnate. It didn’t come. Instead, Steve Parish did his absolute best to answer as many of the questions as he could. Ranging from “How involved is Ron Noades?” (a minimal amount thank fook) to Can we get some cold beer in the Arthur Waite?” (never mind the finances, out of contract players and stadium improvements!) Steve gave us a real insight into how they see the club running and developing. Any questions he couldn’t answer, Steve said he’d look into and everything he could answer, was all good to hear- with the key focus on making sure the club is run within it’s means. Brilliant news.


Fast forward a week and Steve was on Sky Sports News presenting us with our new manager. George Burley. This was an appointment that PTTP had been expecting for a few days and the late mention of Phil Brown being considered didn’t scare us as much as it should. In a time where the words ‘football’ and ‘sense’ don’t often go together, George Burley’s appointment makes complete sense. The idealists among us wanted Sean O’Driscoll (Mourinho had already just taken a new job, typical!) but as CPFC2010 have stated both online and in the press conference, the club needs to run on a shrewd budget, so shelling out a hefty compenation fee for our first manager would have automatically dropped us into the red.


That’s not to take anything away from George Burley, his club record speaks for itself: a win ratio of 47%, including several play-off campaigns, a 5th place Premier League finish and a UEFA cup spot can’t be argued with. Even more so, he has a good record of developing youth players, which is what we need for CPFC2010’s recipe for success to work. Taylor didn’t, Warnock did but Burley will even more. It could be just the tonic to see this club truly flourish. Despite all the new managerial clichés of “I’ve always respected this club”, “great fans” etc, George Burley seemed really keen to recognize and hammer home the point that Championship football is changing and gone are the days of splashing £3million on Premiership rejects. Youth is the key and luckily for us, we have some great kids with potential waiting to be unlocked and with George and Dougie (so so happy he’s still here) overseeing this, who knows- we might get some on-the-floor and dare I say it, ‘sexy’ football.


Hopefully, our managerial appointment will soon bring an end to the ongoing Darren Ambrose saga. First off £750k for a 20-goal midfielder is a joke. But it soon becomes a sick joke when that bid is coming from a club that claims to be the “richest club in London” …which is also helmed by our ex manager- who kicked up a stink when Wolves made a pisstake offer for Nathaniel Clyne. According to Warnock (for whom my respect is at an all time low), “Darren is disappointed that he’s not a QPR player”, according to David Jensen, “Darren wants to stay” and according to Steve Parish, “there’s no need for player sales,” so as confusing as it is, I’d like to think the ball is in our court, even if Darren is thinking of swapping stripes for hoops. Hopefully the manager that gave him his first major break can convince him to stay here and truly cement his place in Palace folklore. Fingers crossed.


It has certainly been a very positive week for Crystal Palace. For once, we can genuinely say “The Future’s Bright…” with no witty, perma-tan chairman based pun needed.


Simply- “The Future’s Bright”

PTTP


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