The Footie Thread

[chrisd]

United are back? Hadn’t you heard?

I saw them win a throw in the other day .........

 

[Swango1980]

Decent equaliser

 

[nickjdavis]

Thats a good finish.

 

[Tashyboy]

United are back? Hadn’t you heard?

Good read up on the class of 92 BB

 

[Norrin Radd]

Brighton drew
Some equaliser though

 

[4LEX]

Wrong on so many levels tbh, My brother in law is a season ticket holder at Palace, been plenty over the last few years, its been rammed in there, amazing atmosphere as well. they have made great signings and a really good manager and the fans and the manager have been totally screwed over. Poor contract management of the players and manager as well as spening very little, selling your best players and so on.

But hey 15 years ago they were dead and rubbish, they need to get back in their box and shut up, especially the manager hey.

How's it wrong? I've got nothing against Palace but you can't survive near the top of the PL long term with a 25,000 ground, limited hospitality and without a major financial backer. The numbers don't add up. I don't deny they've done well over the last few years, mainly due to the excellent recruitment. I think they made over £100m profit from the sales of Olise and Eze alone, with more to come from future sell on clauses. Any club will sell out a fairly small ground when they're in the PL, even my club managed that and we're even smaller than Palace.

The point I was making is the fans need to remember where they came from and where they are. They've had a great few years and can still win European silverware, the manager should not be sulking.

 

[chrisd]

How's it wrong? I've got nothing against Palace but you can't survive near the top of the PL long term with a 25,000 ground, limited hospitality and without a major financial backer. The numbers don't add up. I don't deny they've done well over the last few years, mainly due to the excellent recruitment. I think they made over £100m profit from the sales of Olise and Eze alone, with more to come from future sell on clauses. Any club will sell out a fairly small ground when they're in the PL, even my club managed that and we're even smaller than Palace.

The point I was making is the fans need to remember where they came from and where they are. They've had a great few years and can still win European silverware, the manager should not be sulking.

I quite accept a lot of what you say as I've been a Palace fan since I saw my first game there in 1964 and we should have moved to the Crystal Palace park years ago. Now we've bought some houses that we need to demolish to build new stands etc for a capacity of around 36,000. I hope I can get tickets when it's done.

 

[Swingalot]

Yes Bill but if you were him wouldn't you be questioning if the board have any ambition? Olise, Eze, Guehi and maybe Mateta now all sold to boost the bank balance! How to ruin a very good side in one easy lesson

Its been quite a week. We do have ambition, we are always looking to improve on and off the pitch and generally the Palace support appreciates the Board in that regard. We , like any other club, are tied by the PSR and with such a small income compared to some clubs (We take in financially less than 20% of what Arsenal do every home game) we simply can't compete.

Olise was off to Chelsea, but we managed to get him to sign a contract extension with the promise/guarantee of starting every week and a small increase in wages BUT had to include a release clause. He is a brilliant footballer, ripping it up almost every week for Bayern in Germany, so he was always going to leave us.

Eze has doubled his wages (on 90k with us). He has gone to the PL winners (likely). We invested most of his fee on 3 new players this season, including Pino a regular Spain starter.

Guehi has played 4-5 years for us. We took a risk and took a 20 year old out of the Chelsea squad for £20m 5 years ago. He is a brilliant centre back, future England captain, classy on and of the pitch. He has gone from 65k a week with us to 333k a week. He has joined the most successful PL club of the last 10 years to play for Pep. He was out of contract, what can you do apart from enjoy his time playing for Palace and wish him well?

Mateta. 18 months left on his contract. 28 years old. If someone will give us £40m for him I will drive him there and trust me, Glasner would pay for the fuel. He misses far more than he scores. We can replace him with an upgrade for less than £40m and secure someone for 3-4 years.

Glasner won the FA Cup and gave us the best moment of our lives supporting the club, but in polls on-line 90% of our support have the hump with him more than our board. His comments were unprofessional, sulky and bratty (just like refusing to make sub against Sunderland) and he is likely looking for a payoff and a chance to go to a 'bigger' club with rumours Spurs want him. Parish has imo played a blinder and basically told him if he wants out he needs to quit. His press conference on Friday pre the weekend games could be box office.

All I hope is the dust settles soon., Our injured players are due back starting this week (Munoz and Sarr back at the weekend). Selhurst will be lively and little old Palace might just surprise a few people.

 

[Red devil]

Its been quite a week. We do have ambition, we are always looking to improve on and off the pitch and generally the Palace support appreciates the Board in that regard. We , like any other club, are tied by the PSR and with such a small income compared to some clubs (We take in financially less than 20% of what Arsenal do every home game) we simply can't compete.

Olise was off to Chelsea, but we managed to get him to sign a contract extension with the promise/guarantee of starting every week and a small increase in wages BUT had to include a release clause. He is a brilliant footballer, ripping it up almost every week for Bayern in Germany, so he was always going to leave us.

Eze has doubled his wages (on 90k with us). He has gone to the PL winners (likely). We invested most of his fee on 3 new players this season, including Pino a regular Spain starter.

Guehi has played 4-5 years for us. We took a risk and took a 20 year old out of the Chelsea squad for £20m 5 years ago. He is a brilliant centre back, future England captain, classy on and of the pitch. He has gone from 65k a week with us to 333k a week. He has joined the most successful PL club of the last 10 years to play for Pep. He was out of contract, what can you do apart from enjoy his time playing for Palace and wish him well?

Mateta. 18 months left on his contract. 28 years old. If someone will give us £40m for him I will drive him there and trust me, Glasner would pay for the fuel. He misses far more than he scores. We can replace him with an upgrade for less than £40m and secure someone for 3-4 years.

Glasner won the FA Cup and gave us the best moment of our lives supporting the club, but in polls on-line 90% of our support have the hump with him more than our board. His comments were unprofessional, sulky and bratty (just like refusing to make sub against Sunderland) and he is likely looking for a payoff and a chance to go to a 'bigger' club with rumours Spurs want him. Parish has imo played a blinder and basically told him if he wants out he needs to quit. His press conference on Friday pre the weekend games could be box office.

All I hope is the dust settles soon., Our injured players are due back starting this week (Munoz and Sarr back at the weekend). Selhurst will be lively and little old Palace might just surprise a few people.

I respect your opinion.

 

[4LEX]

I quite accept a lot of what you say as I've been a Palace fan since I saw my first game there in 1964 and we should have moved to the Crystal Palace park years ago. Now we've bought some houses that we need to demolish to build new stands etc for a capacity of around 36,000. I hope I can get tickets when it's done.

I did see that and it's a good step. The trouble is football is getting bigger and bigger and 36,000 will only be low to mid table. Leeds and Forest are expanding to 50k. Palace need to be run amazingly well to compete but unless you've got a 50k plus ground it'll be an uphill task.

I fully expect Brentford and Bournemouth to fall away soon, due to the numbers.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

@Swingalot really interesting post . The only point I would challenge is your belief of how easy it will be to replace Mateta for £40m. Clubs have spent far more than that last summer to get strikers half as successful as him. He might frustrate you but he does deliver better than most

If you'd like to drive him to the Hill Dickinson Stadium, doesn't it just roll off the tongue , then I'll pay for your fuel

 

[Neilds]

I did see that and it's a good step. The trouble is football is getting bigger and bigger and 36,000 will only be low to mid table. Leeds and Forest are expanding to 50k. Palace need to be run amazingly well to compete but unless you've got a 50k plus ground it'll be an uphill task.

I fully expect Brentford and Bournemouth to fall away soon, due to the numbers.

People on here are on about VAR ruining the live experience of watching football, people always moaning about the cost of going to matches, etc but clubs are building bigger and bigger stadiums. Both sides can't be right?

 

[Arthur Wedge]

I did see that and it's a good step. The trouble is football is getting bigger and bigger and 36,000 will only be low to mid table. Leeds and Forest are expanding to 50k. Palace need to be run amazingly well to compete but unless you've got a 50k plus ground it'll be an uphill task.

I fully expect Brentford and Bournemouth to fall away soon, due to the numbers.

People have been expecting that for years

But they show a very well run club can keep doing well , same with Brighton

Spurs have the biggest stadium and look at the mess they are

 

[Swango1980]

People have been expecting that for years

But they show a very well run club can keep doing well , same with Brighton

Spurs have the biggest stadium and look at the mess they are

Spurs are in a mess, yet still managed to stay in the PL and finally won a trophy. They could get relegated, but that would be chaos from them.

If the likes of Brentford or Bournemouth were run half as bad as Spurs, they'd easily be in the Championship, if not League One or Two.

So yes, well run clubs presently and deserve to be where they are. But they are a few bad decisions or bad luck away from dropping faster than Spurs.

 

[Pin-seeker]

I respect your opinion.

Blimey that’s a first for 2026 on the forum

 

[PaulMdj]

I did see that and it's a good step. The trouble is football is getting bigger and bigger and 36,000 will only be low to mid table. Leeds and Forest are expanding to 50k. Palace need to be run amazingly well to compete but unless you've got a 50k plus ground it'll be an uphill task.

I fully expect Brentford and Bournemouth to fall away soon, due to the numbers.

People have been expecting that for years

But they show a very well run club can keep doing well , same with Brighton

Spurs have the biggest stadium and look at the mess they are

Haven’t you missed his point though Phil? The 2 Clubs are run very well, but do they compete?

If they are simply happy to be a PL Club sitting mid-table, having the odd cup run or chance of Europa Conference League then OK, but if they want to compete for top 4 on a consistent basis they need to increase their revenue massively.

The only way that is happening without developing the grounds etc is to keep losing their best players for massive fees.

So it’ll be down to levels and their ambition.

 

[Arthur Wedge]

Not every club can “realistically” consistently challenge for top 4 , some clubs will more than realise the level they expect to “compete” at and the fans will also embrace that ,

For the likes of Brentford and Bournemouth being a consistent solid premier league team will be competing for them , the fans will be enjoying the games and there will be the cups runs and getting into the lower level Euro Comps

They have very little chance of financially competing against other clubs and they prob wouldn’t even attempt it , there have been plenty of cases of clubs spending a lot of money to try and keep up with the Jones

Brighton etc are very well clubs and who will coninute to be very solid Prem clubs

 

[Swango1980]

Not every club can “realistically” consistently challenge for top 4 , some clubs will more than realise the level they expect to “compete” at and the fans will also embrace that ,

For the likes of Brentford and Bournemouth being a consistent solid premier league team will be competing for them , the fans will be enjoying the games and there will be the cups runs and getting into the lower level Euro Comps

They have very little chance of financially competing against other clubs and they prob wouldn’t even attempt it , there have been plenty of cases of clubs spending a lot of money to try and keep up with the Jones

Brighton etc are very well clubs and who will coninute to be very solid Prem clubs

I thought that is sort of what 4LEX was indicating, just expressing it different?

Basically, these clubs are currently running well, near their potential. So, assuming clubs will not remain at their potential forever, then if they are going to move in any direction, it will be down rather than up. And with the money involved these days, that fall can be dramatic. We've seen it many times before.

Meanwhile, clubs like Man Utd and Spurs can be run terribly, and yet not only remain in the Premier League, but there is still expectation at the start of each season they'll be able to sort most of their problems and compete near the top.

 

[PaulMdj]

Not every club can “realistically” consistently challenge for top 4 , some clubs will more than realise the level they expect to “compete” at and the fans will also embrace that ,

For the likes of Brentford and Bournemouth being a consistent solid premier league team will be competing for them , the fans will be enjoying the games and there will be the cups runs and getting into the lower level Euro Comps

They have very little chance of financially competing against other clubs and they prob wouldn’t even attempt it , there have been plenty of cases of clubs spending a lot of money to try and keep up with the Jones

Brighton etc are very well clubs and who will coninute to be very solid Prem clubs

Again though! What if?

What if Brighton want to take it to the next level?

What if Palace wanted to keep their best players by being more financially secure?

This is almost getting to the point of “know your place and don’t dare to dream”

It’s also why some people are against ffp!

 

[Arthur Wedge]

Again though! What if?

What if Brighton want to take it to the next level?

What if Palace wanted to keep their best players by being more financially secure?

This is almost getting to the point of “know your place and don’t dare to dream”

It’s also why some people are against ffp!

There is nothing stopping them from trying

If Palace want to offer Guehi or who over £400k a week then away they go

If they want to build up a brand new 60k stadium then there is nothing stopping them

The reality is that there is always a bigger club that will be able to take the best players - and thats valid for every club bar one

Doesn’t matter how big a stadium or how much money a club makes - top players will always be at risk of wanting to leave to one of the very best teams in the world