My point with length of support is maybe you don't know any different. The fact you've been a fan so long makes you view even stranger. Right from Ray Bloye through to Simon Jordon it's been one dodgy second hand car salesman after another. I would leave Ron Noades out of that because of obvious reasons plus he ran the club well but always did this as a business for himself first, club second. I've seen other clubs with far less potential flourish over the years due to good owners and been very jealous. With the current state of football with mad foreign owners who have no interest in the club the fans and it's history or clubs going bust (we know all about that). I feel we are very lucky to have Palace supporters running the club in the interest of the club and feel very confident of the future with them at the helm wether we stay up or go down. The owners would probably be the first to admit they haven't got everything right all the time (who does) but there isn't a lot that I personally disagree with and I find it baffling that others think they are.

Edited by zico murphy (22 Jan 2014 2.22pm)

I like the cut of your jib Zico.

Good post but you'll get the usual "stop hero worshipping them" etc.

Obviously I can't speak for you but when IH went, I was away and had no internet access, so I was getting texts from mates and I at first thought the board had sacked him, I was p!ssed off that we had become one of 'those' clubs, it transpires that we hadn't but that anecdote is really to demonstrate I don't hero worship them.

Zico:

1. My point with length of support is maybe you don't know any different. The fact you've been a fan so long makes you view even stranger. Right from Ray Bloye through to Simon Jordan it's been one dodgy second hand car salesman after another.

Are you basing the dody car salesman accusation on behaviour while in the job, or background before becoming chairman? Our last four owners were Ray Bloye, a meat wholesaler, Ron Noades, a property developer, Mark Goldberg, a recruitment agency founder, and Simon Jordan, basically a retailer. They may have behaved like dodgy-second hand car dealers as owners of Palace, but they were not more likely based on their previous lives to have become so than a marketing agency founder, an insurance company magnate or a vintner. I saw my first Palace game in 1967 and had my first season ticket in 1970 and what I know better than anything is that history repeatedly tells us not to blindly trust football club owners, full stop.

2. I would leave Ron Noades out of that because of obvious reasons plus he ran the club well but always did this as a business for himself first, club second.

So if I follow you, Ron is not a dodgy-car dealer even though he put his own interests before the clubs. Well, I'll bear that in mind when I consider your positive opinion of our current owners.

3. I feel we are very lucky to have Palace supporters running the club in the interest of the club and feel very confident of the future with them at the helm wether we stay up or go down.

This may surprise you, but I would not disagree with you on this point at all. That doesn't, however, change the fact that I'm going to question and challenge them when I disagree with something, or the fact that I may dislike them on one level but respect them on another at the same time.

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

God knows I am not going to defend Simon Jordan, but that is a very simplistic view of his story's denouement. He went to Agilo because he had no other choice except administration (and had been sensible rather than proud, he would have opted for the latter.) That he ended up in that position in the first place was down mainly to hubris though it can be argued that the simultaneous implosion of global credit markets really didn't help (thus, a small measure of bad luck). Had he been in the same position 24 months earlier, it's far more likely he'd have been able to blag his way out of trouble.

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

Are you able to provide the detail to back that up or is it just an assumption on your part?

...out of all the clubs relegated how many were in complete dissary whilst being so...I would say the other 75%, at this moment we are not in dissary...far from it.

This is rubbish. Just spouting cliches to support a non-existent point.

Clubs that have ever been relegated from the Premiership:

Barnsley -- returned to their natural level and stayed there.
Birmingham -- been back up, been back down, now in poor shape.
Blackpool -- returned to their natural level and still there.
Bolton -- arguably returned to their natural level. Not in freefall.
Bradford -- though all the way back to League 2, still arguably their natural level. Now rebounding.
Charlton -- some degree of freefall.
Coventry -- freefall (though no foreign ownership involved)
Derby -- returned to their natural level and stayed there
Hull -- now back up.
Ipswich -- struggled, but remain in Championship. Not freefall.
Leeds -- freefall (though no foreign ownership involved). Now rebounding.
Leicester -- Returned to natural level, now on the up.
Man City -- Back on the up.
Middlesboro -- Return to their natural pre-Gibson level.
Nottm Forest -- Returned to their level of the post-80s period.
Oldham -- see Bradford. Have returned to their natural level.
Portsmouth -- the obvious case of freefall. Agreed.
QPR -- Rebounding from their natural level.
Reading -- At their natural level, and rebounding.
Sheff Wed. -- Back at their natural level.
Sheff Utd. -- Back at their natural level.
Southampton -- freefall but now strong rebound.
Swindon -- Back at their natural level.
Watford -- Back at their natural level.
Wigan -- Arguably still above their natural level.
Wimbledon -- the other obvious case of freefall.
Wolves -- Mismanagement, but now rebounding.

That's 27 teams (some have been relegated more than once) not counting us. Only two (less than 10%) have gone into freefall and not recovered (Portsmouth and Wimbledon). Those two clubs are the exception; not even close to the rule.

By far the vast majority of relegated teams are teams who were promoted unexpectedly in the first place and, after a season (or two) in the Premiership, have simply returned to their natural level. They didn't go into freefall or disarray...they simply returned from whence they came with a little more money in the bank (or the chairman's pocket).

The few clubs that fit neither of the above profiles but were in some disarray though not freefall after relegation -- I would include Leeds Manchester City, and Wolves here -- are all now generally on the rebound with no long-term damage.

Bottom line: There are about 14 real Premiership Clubs. Another 14 who are "yo-you" clubs. And a larger number of "one-off" promotions. Relegation very rarely sends you into freefall, and equally rarely into disarray. In the main, relegated teams suffer disappointment, then get on with it at their natural level.

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.