They could probably still gazump us.

Red and Blue Army!

There are a lot of moaners on this forum forever criticising our so-called lack of vision or "limited" financial means who should sit down and pay attention to the Everton story. It's instructive. Here's how it reads.

Multi-millionaire owner (Moshiri) comes into the club brandishing his wallet and the fans spunk themselves. Every man's dream...time buy success. But ten years or so have passed since the Sheik's bought Manchester City and the landscape's changed. Now, there's Financial Fair Play which limits a club's ability to buy success. Rich owners still matter, but less than they did.

Moshiri does what all fans want; splashes the cash and brings in star names plus a star manager. In essence, he gambles everything on Everton winning something and qualifying for Europe which would increase their revenue stream and thereby give them more room under the FFP rules.

But it doesn't happen. All the money yields a tenth place finish, no Cups, and no Europe. So with the maximum amount of money already spent last summer, revenue streams left static by the failure to progress into Europe, and up hard against the FFP cap suddenly Everton have no room to spend more money whether the owner has a big wallet or not.

What happens? First, Ancelloti walks in part because he knows there's no money to strengthen the team again this summer. Moshiri makes no real effort to keep him because he's happy to get a big salary off the books and free up a bit of cash he can spend elsewhere (on the team). Ancelloti, meanwhile, goes to Real and immediately puts in a cheeky bid for Calvert-Lewin because he knows that if they want to buy, Everton has to sell first. In fact, it's so bad that Everton can't even nail down Nuno, who turned down Palace for a bigger club he thought would meet his demands, then discovered in negotiating that they had no more free cash than we did.

I have no sympathy for raging Everton fans. Their dream came true but rather than see the reality of last summer's excesses, they were seduced into thinking you could buy success. Now, they've come down to earth with a bump and they don't like it. Tough.

The moral here is "beware of Greeks bearing gifts". Being a well-run club is not simply a matter of having a ridiculously rich owner. Manchester City (rich owner) are successful because they're well run. Tottenham (rich owner) aren't successful because recently at least, they haven't been well-run. Ditto Man. Utd.

We are where we are because whether you like our ownership set-up or not or not, because we are a well-run club. And we're more or less punching our weight on the pitch. There are worse things in football than that.

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

Yes, I am not going to put up the red and blue bunting until there is a photo of him shaking Steve Parish's hand and holding a place shirt in the other.

BBC Sport had us close to closing a deal with Nuno just a few days ago.

Well argued post.

It just shows how hard it is to move from middle table to 6-8 place. Clubs like Everton and Brighton have spent a fortune compared to us and yet we are all still in the same bucked with Southampton and the miserly Burnley.

I thought FFP rules were being relaxed so Everton may still benefit from that, we'll see.

One more point

If we have already applied for a wirk permit I suspect contracts have already been signed, subject to approval of work permit. Permits are issued for specific jobs so a confirmed offer would have been agreed. He will obtain a permit. I have been researching self isolation, if we can get him classed as an elite sportsperson ( doubtful) he will not have to self isolate

Fair point Syd. In fact, although I have no idea whether it's a fact or not, I'd say the Crystal Palace brand has a wider international reach largely due to our glamorous sounding name.

I'm not a vindictive bloke by nature, but after leading us a merry dance, I hope Santo ends up missing out on a 'big' job. Certainly both Everton and Spurs are still not fixed up.

Dad and I watched games standing on the muddy slope of the Holmesdale Road end. He cheered and I rattled.