Prior to the Chelsea game Lee Dixon mentioned we have the 12th highest budget in the league and 12th is where we're looking to finish.
That may be the reality but it's a bit depressing to have the financial side of things expressed so starkly.

Look at the top 10, Brighton is the only club not to have spent a lot of money to be there. I remember a few years back reading that generally speaking the size of the investment reflects where teams finish in the PL. If Brighton don't invest they'll likely be back further down the table within a few years. Likewise if Forest can continue to invest like they have been they'll probably sneak into the top 10 and start sniffing around the European spots.

SP said he believed PV would have kept us up, but he couldn't take the chance, so had to release him. Gotta think that the same thoughts must be going through his head right now. Is it solely his decision or does he have to run it by our uninterested owners?

That's Life
And as funny as it may seem
Some people get their kicks stompin' on a Dream.
KEEP THE FAITH!!!!!

Finally found a moment to fully express my views following the loss yesterday against Chelsea.

I believe we have reached a moment where the blame must be equally split between both Roy Hodgson & Steve Parish/The Board.

Starting with the board, regardless of the views of the Viera sacking, bringing Hodgson back to finish the final 10 or so games last season was a very sensible move. He steadied the ship, albeit against on-paper 'easier' opposition and kept us safe. There was a lot of frustrated fans in Roy's final season and that gave him the opportunity to receive the hero's goodbye which he quite frankly deserved.

However, in those 3-4 months it was Parish/the board's responsibility to be scouting a new successor. I genuinely don't quite understand the thinking behind appointing Roy for 1 more year. It's not long term and therefore doesn't help our club move forward. Just retain and stay still for a year.

I've seen a similar argument recently and historically here before which is 'who else can do the job?' and I really despise this weak argument. Firstly, we are an established Premier League club - the idea that nobody would be attracted here is ridiculous. Secondly, it's not down to us as fans to identify someone. We know the big available names i.e Cooper, Lopetegui - etc, but we have a scouting team who should be identifying exciting and available managers from other leagues, domestic and abroad. They exist and we've seen other clubs find them and become successful with them over the years.

With Roy Hodgson, we've regressed to negative tactics which frustrated us all in his final season with us. Play for a draw, using his same 12-13 players on rotation, players being played out of position, and subs being used very late if we're lucky.

I've seen a few comments asking if anyone else could do better with our team? My view on this is strongly yes. Our team is not a poor team - it's a skeleton squad for sure but we have some very good talent here. Olise & Eze are our star boys. Guehi & Anderson are a superb CB pairing. Lerma, Doucoure (when fit) are both strong, talented midfielders and Hughes has been much improved this season. Richards is playing out of position but his defensive abilities - tackling, interceptions and tracking back is very very good. But a midfielder he is not. Our spine is strong and we genuinely have no idea how good players like Franca, Ozoh, JRS because their minutes have been minimal.

Finally, something I've noticed is whilst we don't want to sell players, we almost never earn any money from any player sales. With FFP, we can spend a certain % of club earnings. Well, if we aren't selling ever, our earnings and profit are of course lower. I'm not saying we should sell our top players but we need to be smarter to reinvest. Zaha for example should not have been allowed to leave for free. Even if we secured £20mill for him with a contract and agreement with him we'd let him go, that's further investment available for us to build the squad and manager/coaching staff. This is an issue that doesn't get discussed enough. Every club makes player sales, except us.

Unfortunately, Roy needs to leave now. But the board needs to adjust the way they are running this club. (This is not a Parish out post)

Edited by YoDougie (28 Dec 2023 3.20pm)

Roy is just beyond his sell by date:
Negative mindset management - when playing Chelsea alert the world they shouldn’t fear us as they are world best team
- when playing Layton tell everybody it’s going to be a tough game

Now, you’re a palace player, how does that affect your mindset before the game?
If you’re a Chelsea/luton supporter how does that affect your mindset?