I understand the argument that even a weak Premier League side is stronger than mid-table sides in most other leagues, as the EPL clubs have so much more money.

However, whilst money certainly talks, football clubs do need spirit, direction, hunger and togetherness.

I have often used Southampton as an example of the faults in the 'buy or develop young and/or unheard of players, sell at a profit, repeat' model. They've dodged the bullet a few times in recent years but their pending, whimpering relegation has been long-coming. Whether their squad could be upper mid-table in another league or not, their mentality would see any club relegated in the end.

Every time you give an untried kid a chance or take the plunge on a speculative transfer, you are taking a risk. There are only so many times you can go to the well before it runs dry.

Every time you sell your best player or prospect, you weaken your side. Even if the next untested, talented young player ultimately develops to be as good as the one you just sold, all the time that he remains a work in progress your team will be weaker than it was.

The more often you sell your best players the more the best players expect to be sold. The more the players expect to be sold the more they see your club as a stepping stone. The more that happens, the less committed to the club itself they are. How many of the Southampton players will already have checked out mentally, and had their agents working on their next move for weeks?

Clubs like Palace do need to trade well of course, but where Southampton are now seems partly the end game of their business model and the culture it creates. They touched the sky in qualifying for European football but the model made them work backward from there, not forwards. Wolves are the same. Brighton will end up there too.

Look at Leicester. With the players they have they should be far higher up, but they don't seem to have the togetherness and personal commitment that Roy's previous Palace team of old journeymen had. Mentally, many of their best assets are at other clubs already.

Southampton have traded their way out of the premier league, thereby losing far more money then they've made on player sales.

Whilst I don't disagree with the sentiment. Almost every team in world football sells their bet players. There are probably only a handful who don't (Barca, Real, PSG etc).

Selling players to better clubs isn't a sign that you are doing something wrong, quite the opposite. It shows that you are doing something right.

We are quite uniquely not used to this situation as we've only sold a handful of players in the last decade.

I wouldn't take too much notice of Southampton, they are just an example of a club run badly. Bar a couple or windows, they have always had a net spend. They have just bought a load of dross.

This is where I am, too. Watching these relegation battles, with the fans sh-tting themselves, I'm like, thank god we're not in that.

2017 Feb. (Van Aanholt) Palace 1 - 0 Middlesboro
2018 Jan. (Sako) Palace 1 - 0 Burnley
2019 May (Batshuayi, Batshuayi, OG, Van Aanholt, Townsend) Palace 5 - 3 Bournemouth
2020 Feb. (Van Aanholt) Palace 1 - 0 Newcastle

"Come on Brighton!" is all I can say. On Monday, I mean.

Palace since 19 August 1972. Palace 1 (Tony Taylor) Liverpool 1 (Emlyn Hughes)

Agreed, but now go and wash your mouth out thoroughly, preferably with bleach

Made in Bromley

I'll join the bleach queue!