i've wondered if we really have a transfer strategy ever since we came back into the prem - i know we were playing catch up etc but some of the strange dealings have shocked me.

A club like Palace should predominantly be buying good up and coming British players as they will see Palace as a good stepping stone - lets be honest we will never compete with the big 4 or 5 teams.

For example when we first came up under Holloway we were desperately in need of a winger (no Zaha and Bolaise injured etc). Nathan Redmond was an obvious target and would have fitted in well. Instead he goes to Norwich and in desperation we buy a 30 year old Kebe for a similar price a few weeks later. Kebe has his contract paid up at the end of the season!!

The 2 recent Newcastle signings also are interesting (Diame and Clark). Both have been linked with Palace before and both are players who could improve our squad. Yet Newcastle have bought both after activating release clauses - we could have done the same.

Now the striker issue, which is fast becoming a crisis. We have struggled with goals for the last 3 seasons and since we sold Murray we have been short of options upfront - almost 12 months.

If we were to buy 2 strikers on paper you would want 1 established one and maybe a younger one who would be happier to sit on the bench and learn his trade etc.
We were linked with Dembele from Fulham last year - young, good potential and running down his contract. Well he has now gone to Celtic. Surely if we had really tried we could have got him. Yes we would still need another striker but it would take a bit of pressure off the situation and he would have represented a good replacement for Gayle.

Struggling to think of 1 AP signing that's been an unquestionable success and some of the earlier ones - Mutch and Lee, were just a joke. Why buy players who clearly weren't fit and didn't have an obvious role in the team - Lee had a hairline fracture at the time and couldn't play for first 3 months!!!

The other teams that are struggling to bring in a decent striker haven't sold their top scorer though

I thought we just employed a Scout to look at other leagues around the Europe / World , what has this person / his team being doing since January ?
Leicester succeeded with a Journeyman striker , unknown Algerian & Frenchman and a sprinkling of average players.
Surely there are these type of players around in other leagues and we just have to work hard to find them and take a chance.
In conjunction with the above we need to use / develop our Academy or alternatively cherry pick the best of other Teams academies such as Chelsea / Man City / Arsenal to name but a few.
Why are we trying to focus only on Premiership players with high Transfer fees & wages.

Celery Celery.......... !

Strategy = sit back & watch all others snag anyone we've identified. Wait until the very last minute to try & drag any corpse across the line & have a full season as pants as the 2nd half of last season. All this prolonged waffle about Benteke & you just know he'll score against us wearing some other gimps colours.

Red & Blue since 73'

Good additions, granted but the priority was a striker/s unless I'm wrong about goals winning games

Red & Blue since 73'

This, im guilty of it to, I think it shows how much harder it is for a Smaller prem club to get "premium" players, it obviously takes more time due to the nature of money limitations and the Fact do these players want to come to Palace. that said everyone bar a few clubs is struggling to get in Strikers at the moment. Silly season now due to the ludicrous amounts of money sloshing about.