We had been the oldest squad in the prem. So something needed to change.

I still cannot decide if the overall strategy is genius ? or maybe its a plan for us straight down to the championship.

Only time will tell. A ton of fellas not prem-proven is very risky to me.

Eze Peasy at Anfield....

If the new regime is successful a massive part of the credit should go to Roy.

I think that in footballing terms we should have changed our squad over the last 2 seasons, financially as I previously explained it made sense to hang on for prices to drop.

Roy was given the unenviable task of avoiding relegation with an aging squad all so the he could then give his successor a clean start with money to buy.

To his credit Roy has done just that let's hope we don't squander it, unlike Moan United we cannot afford mistakes.

In years to come last season's avoiding relegation with a crocked and aging squad maybe one of Palace's most successful as it was the springboard for the PV revolution.

One more point

If we had had money I think we’d have taken a different approach to rejuvenating the squad. It’s composition was flawed due to our poor acquisition strategy in earlier times - no one wanted our ageing overpaid journey-man players so we had to wait until their contracts were up. Those circumstances have have really allowed us to take advantage of the current situation in the football economy. Teams need to sell. Our competition is mostly strapped for cash or are at the limits of FFP rules. Add to that having a genuine PL legend as our manager, and it seems weird to say this, we have had a great window and it seems we’re not done yet!

Plenty of time to integrate the new players. Our squad is looking almost there.

It appears the fees paid are amortised over the life of the contract so the larger fees paid for Sakko, Townsend and VA are now no longer showing on the balance sheet - some £50m. Hence, the opportunity was there for a reset with contracts now set at much more realistic levels in the main although that was seemingly not enough to tempt Townsend and Cahill to stay. Of the others, Dann and Hennessy have been fine servants over a long period but their best days were behind them. The same, of course, applies to Wickham. Hence, the conclusion has to be that the reset made sensible economic sense along with the timing.

As others have said, the job Roy did should not be underestimated given he was essentially having to operate with everything he inherited for 4.5 years. The only really significant expenditure was Eze and Sorloth and it appears the money spent on the latter was largely recovered and Eze is likely to be worth considerably more than was paid for him - assuming he makes a full recovery form his incredibly unlucky injury.

This is the important point; these player costs are now off the balance sheet freeing the club to start buying again. Also, the club could not offload these ageing players for fees that would have enabled us to purchase sufficiently capable replacements. I think we needed a bit of a reset rather than expensively trying to plug gaps to try and stay up rather than at least trying to build something. Sure, it might not work but you at least can’t fault our effort. Had we got relegated last season it would have been a real waste of our time in the premier league, having gone down without a whimper, losing all those players for nothing. At least this new squad has some potential and youth for the longer term even if this season does prove to be a struggle. I am also liking the fact that most of our fan base seem to accept that this is a transitional season. Staying up while developing a better style has to be our first target. I think the strategy seems sensible considering our financial history.

1. Agreed. The existing wage bill was unsustainable and it was imperative that the club restructured it so as to be on a more sustainable footing and they seem to have done that.

2. Kouyate has just the one year left on his contract. The club can either sell him in this window for a few million and save a few million more in wages or keep him for the year and let his contract run out. Much will depend on who else the club is able to bring in during this window. His ability to fulfill more than one role may see the club keep him, especially given the number of appearances he's had in pre-season.

3. As for Luka, who knows where's his head is at the moment? I can well see him going before the end of his contract.