November 1 2007

Selhurst Park

...and mellow fruitfulness, wrote Keats in autumnal mood. Jamesey reflects on Watford and the new regime.

It was ironic that glossy merchandise and season card offers were being offered on a night when supporters stayed away in their their droves (the late and much missed Ronnie Scott always used to say on quiet nights at his Soho jazz club: "The band was playing Tea for One and the bouncer was throwing them in.")

It is, however, worth repeating that Selhurst gates are calculated by paid-for units; in other words all season card seats are included whether the relevant bum was on the seat or not.

Anyone could see that the stated 14,000 crowd was way below that figure.

And to be perfectly fair... it was a chilly Monday night, the game was on Sky and football is an expensive activity anyway, especially with the ghastly expense of the festive season looming.

To get back to the real business, an away point and two home defeats mark the start of Neil Warnock's Palace managerial campaign.

But as I travelled home after the 0-2 defeat against Watford (Oct 29), I didn't feel too disheartened.

OK, we lost against the CCC leaders who are on fire at present. We witnessed a thoroughly entertaining game. And, what's more, the team played with far more aggression and determination than I have seen for many a moon.

And as the week progresses some of Taylor's deadwood is being unloaded (Cort I exclude because he always looked excellent).

Grit your teeth folks, we may lose a couple more but I am sure that Neil Warnock will do the business, almost certainly not this season but maybe next?

Well, at least the game wasn't boring like so many we have sat through in recent times.

As far as I know, as I write this column on Halloween Eve, when ghouls. ghosts and beasties roam the south London streets, no yobboes have chucked eggs at my front door for refusing to give them money.

A "warlock", to carry on the Halloween theme, is a man who practises black magic. A "warnock" is, hopefully, a man who can do something like that for the benefit of CPFC.

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