February 22 2009

Simon Jordan

Jamesey reflects on a dismal succession of results... and things aren't much better off the pitch either.

What we hoped was to be the second of another winning run turned into a 2-0 defeat by Sheffield Wednesday (Feb 21).

So our 1-3 victory away to Plymouth Argyle last week was the only exception to five defeats in six games.

And, according to the Palace World radio commentator, we looked by far the best team for most of the time at Hillsborough.

Neil Warnock's thinly veiled complaints in his newspaper column that he is being starved of cash for new players have a hollow ring.

In theory, we already have what appears to be a pretty strong squad and you can't really buy guile and guts which is what we seem to be lacking at present.

The problem, of course, starts at the top of the pyramid, with a chairman who desperately wants out. This inevitably seeps down to the manager, players and, ultimately, the supporters

And the latest of Simon Jordan's diatribes, this time against the Croydon Advertiser, hardly helps matters

The Adder used to be one of the most respected local newspapers in the country.

As a wet-behind-the-ears 16-year-old I applied for a job there as a trainee reporter but was turned down because I couldn't name the shadow minister of agriculture! However, even though they missed a gilt-edged talent, they proceeded to provide a steady stream of contenders for Fleet Street (as it then was) national paper jobs.

I haven't lived in the Croydon area for several decades so I don't often see the Adder but from everything I hear and read, the newspaper has moved a long way downmarket over the years. But then, hasn't everything else?

Simon Jordan has ended our relationship with the newspaper, in particular, apparently, over an article which claimed that fans were dissatisfied with the club's decisions over next season's kit.

We should all be well accustomed to Simon's over-reactions to criticism by now, and this is just another notch on the bedpost of his paranoid delusions.

I am led to think of two former classic incidents during Simon's reign.

In 2002, our chairman decided to ban the Evening Standard's sports reporter Leo Spall from Selhurst Park (Simon on warpath, Nov 27, 02).

The reasons for the ban was that SJ objected to Leo's taking hospitality and then going back and writing critical articles. I wrote at the time that a cup of tea and some ginger nut biscuits (if he was lucky) were hardly an incentive to be nice to Crystal Palace.

Journalists do get a bad press but sniping and bad news are sometimes a better read than praise and good news. And, of course, journalists need satisfied readers or they get the boot from their editors.

All that was achieved in the end was a souring of relationships with the newspaper which appears to have lasted to this day.

The other incident where I was more personally involved was an article I wrote which took the form of a spoof telephone conversation between Peter Taylor, our then-manager, and SJ ( Simon and Peter, Sept 13, 06).

To my jaw-dropping amazement, the light-hearted and amusing (I hoped) spoof was taken up by The Times and without any reference to the source turned into an "email distribution" and reported quite literally.

Even the normally laconic SJ was quoted by The Times as stating that the whole business was "part of a Machiavellian plot by my enemies to try and cause unrest and destabilise the club".

Is the man's instability and paranoia without end?

Please let there be a sensible buyer for the club (possibly a contradiction in terms) out there and let's hope for a reasonable and level-headed chairman in position very soon, while the present incumbent takes his delusions elsewhere, possibly as a theatrical impresario or film producer.

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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