December 29 2009

Selhurst Park

Another season is half way through. Jamesey reflects on what could happen.... or maybe not?

A home win and an away draw over the festive break doesn't seem at all bad to me.

To my great regret, I missed both the Ipswich and Swansea games having been dragooned into spending a family Christmas in darkest Kent.

It was the first Boxing Day home fixture I had missed for some years and even the consolations of being in the lovely town of Faversham, surrounded by Shepherd Neame pubs selling delightful real ales, hardly made up for missing our 3-1 defeat of the Tractor Boys.

I wouldn't have travelled to Swansea and didn't even get a chance to listen to the game on Palace Player due to all sorts of domestic obligations.

So as the clock ticks through the lacklustre limbo between Christmas and the New Year, where do we stand?

Not badly really. As I write we are 9th in the CCC table, with 34 points, only three points off the play-off places. That is a much better position than I would ever have hoped for a couple of months ago but can we generate that extra ruthlessness to win games and push up the table?

I don't know how close the Gold consortium ever came to seriously bidding to buy CPFC or whether it was all a case of bluff and double bluff with West Ham matters adding to the mix.

It is pretty well certain that we not going to get a buyer in the immediate future so the next high hurdle is the January transfer window when we all fear the worst.

Simon Jordan is desperate for cash to pay bills, tax and you name it, and with the coming-good of our brightest young player, Victor Moses will surely be snapped up by a Premier League predator.

And there are a few more who must have attracted eyes in the top tier and that's not even daring to think about the loss of this season's two mega-performers, Julian Speroni and Darren Ambrose.

Well, it was a disappointing FA Cup draw for the Third Round on Jan 2.

No disrespect to Sheffield Wednesday but flogging all the way up to Hillsborough doesn't appeal too much to this supporter who is already thinking about the ghastly magnitude of his next credit card statement.

Chelsea home or away would have been blissful but Watford drew the lucky one there...

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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