Never ever want to get to the Premier league

[Boomstick]

For me, today highlighted the problem of money in football, and how it ruined it.
A mediocre provincial club like crystal Palace can afford 150k a week players, they get crowds less than 3x ours.
It's not a meritocracy, it's just about who can scrabble to get to the Premier league for the big pay day.
Nah, you can shove it up yer arse.

It's all about the football league for me, the Premier league is completely and utterly irrelevant, and I'm canceling my sky sports subscription tomorrow.

Please don't get me wrong, this isn't sour grapes. I genuely think the Premier league is shite, ruined by the obscene amounts of money.

[Donnywolf]

I think on the whole your Post is accurate and I agree (but will keep my Sky) but the description / definition of provincial applied to Palace is a bit out- its what they would be calling us if the boot was on the other foot !

Provincial - an inhabitant of the regions outside the capital city of a country, especially when regarded as unsophisticated or narrow-minded.

[Boomstick]

I think on the whole your Post is accurate and I agree (but will keep my Sky) but the description / definition of provincial applied to Palace is a bit out- its what they would be calling us if the boot was on the other foot !

Provincial - an inhabitant of the regions outside the capital city of a country, especially when regarded as unsophisticated or narrow-minded.

Croydon is a province of London, they hardly draw their support from further afield. Unlike arsenal, Chelsea or even Tottenham.

[pib]

Can’t disagree with much of that Boomstick.

A couple of things I noticed...

Electronic ad hoardings are a pain in the arse. Could barely see the ball up the other end when they got them working again 2nd half.

How completely natural and normal it felt for Palace to just stifle the game 2nd half. Take an age over every set play, take forever to get up after a challenge etc. Normally in the league it sticks out like a sore thumb when a team is basically trying it on (a la Peterborough) but it just seemed par for the course with Palace today. I’ve noticed that sort of approach is pretty much the norm in the PL (and has crept into the Championship too). Makes it a difficult watch.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Quite a negative style they had but they were fairly comfortable. Doesn't make for amazing entertainment but they set up to be solid and Nick a goal, which they did.

The PL in general has took off and I expect I'll enjoy next week more as it's a closer match.  But we've had great performances and games vs palace before, the.gulf in finance makes a big difference.

[RoversAlias]

You're not wrong, Boomstick. It's practically a different sport at that level in many ways.

[drfchound]

One of their fans on here earlier in the week said they would play,away from home, exactly as they did do.

[tyke1962]

Double edged sword for me , to tell the truth the championship is getting to be a bit of a holy grail too for clubs our size .

However the year we had in the PL was something else , it was bloody fantastic , going to Old Trafford , Highbury , White Hart Lane and Anfield , what's not to like ? , Oakwell a season ticket sell out , every home game was buzzing , fantastic atmosphere all season .

The media exposure is off the scale , I'd love another shot at it all day long .

Then again league one is enjoyable too but in a different way , the fans are more grounded and friendlier and it's proper football with good old fashioned tackles and players more honest .

If you ever make it I'll guarantee you'd love it .

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Tyke we were discussing it earlier and I agree, 1 season would be nice. But I wouldn't want it to be regular. I feel we'd lose the things I like about rovers, family feel, down to earth players etc.

[tyke1962]

Tyke we were discussing it earlier and I agree, 1 season would be nice. But I wouldn't want it to be regular. I feel we'd lose the things I like about rovers, family feel, down to earth players etc.

I know what you mean and I agree , your club does change , it's inevitable , one minute our record transfer fee is £250k and the next it's £1.8m .

I couldn't believe it .

Following relegation the club had a taste for it , hired Dave Bassett and backed him with some serious money , Hignett , Bruce Dyer , Neil Shipperley and Mike Sheron come in and we almost make it back up there unfortunately losing the play off final to Ipswich Town .

It nearly put us out of business altogether but that said we gave it a go and lived the dream to a certain extent .

Wonderful era mate and unlikely to be repeated .

[johnny rovers]

For me, today highlighted the problem of money in football, and how it ruined it.
A mediocre provincial club like crystal Palace can afford 150k a week players, they get crowds less than 3x ours.
It's not a meritocracy, it's just about who can scrabble to get to the Premier league for the big pay day.
Nah, you can shove it up yer arse.

It's all about the football league for me, the Premier league is completely and utterly irrelevant, and I'm canceling my sky sports subscription tomorrow.

Please don't get me wrong, this isn't sour grapes. I genuely think the Premier league is shite, ruined by the obscene amounts of money.

Firstly and most importantly the dream that any team in land can reach the very top is precious in our game and that should never be taken away. We may never reach the premier League and yes I agree with lots of you sentiments but I would love to experience it for at least one season in my lifetime. If the dream of reaching the top tier went and promotion to the top stopped that would kill off the football league.

[BillyStubbsTears]

My dream is different.

Seriously.

My ideal would be us winning the Championship every year.

Each time, you go to sleep after we've won it, and we wake up again at the start of a new Championship season. Which we win.

The fairytale  joy of succeeding.

Without the snouts in troughs reality to follow.

[PDX_Rover]

It'd be nice for one season. Surely that's the ultimate goal, whatever we think of the PL. Ther dream of promotion and fighting to retain your status is what we love and hate. It's a different proposition to the closed shop by application only set up that professional sport is all like over here in the States. No promotion or relegation. Teams move cities - they are called franchises FFS. It's a bit alien (still) to me after 15 years here. I've been to a fair bit of MLS and it's been really good. but . here there isn't that excitement of promotion or fear of relegation, which for me is integral - that your team can progress or regress - to the journey as a fan. Insead all teams are on an equal footing in terms of their potential to win the national championship. You fail, you just go again next season.

[bobjimwilly]

The dream has to be to reach the PL, but never at the risk of bankrupting the football club.

[Palace fan in Peace]

The whole EPL thing is really weird. We spend pretty much all our time trying to avoid relegation and getting the very occasional win over the top six which is normally the highlight of our season. We have learnt a style of football which is defend for our lives and hit teams on the break. We aren’t going to make top 6 or even top 8 we are highly unlikely to get into Europe and even if we did it would be a disaster as we don’t have the squad to compete. We are desperately trying to improve our ground but have been for 5 years + and it looks like at least another 5 before we succeed, predominantly because we pay our player so much we can’t afford a new stadium, but we have to pay them fortunes or they won’t want to come to us. The atmosphere at most EPL clubs is woeful but we try to be the odd ones out in that respect. On the plus side we do see some incredible players, we do get that occasional win over Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal and we do sometimes get opportunities in the cup which is why we, the fans, wanted to win it so much yesterday.

I think some of your fans are unnecessary harsh on your team after yesterday. We had the fortune of scoring early and the timing of the second couldn’t have been better. I think if you could have grown into the game and kept it 0-0 for 30 mins we would have had a very difficult afternoon but after the first goal your crowd and some players seemed to lose belief and it went a bit quiet. I wish you well for the rest of the season and have a sneaking suspicion you will be at Wembley at the end of May. Good luck!! I suspect many Palace fans will be supporting you if you do.

[LincsRover]

I agree with your comments about yesterday, I thought we played well and if we could have kept it at 1-0 into half time we could have nicked a goal second half, maybe lasted until extra time, even penalties and who knows what might happen then. That second goal was a right sickener, especially the timing! I for one had a great day and I am proud of the players, the fans (most of them) and the club - as a season ticket holder for 40 years I’ve rarely seen the stadium (BV or KM) as full or bouncing as it was before kick off yesterday. I hope we can kick on from here & that day at Wembley might become reality - 2 great days in one season would be amazing!!

 

[RoversAlias]

Very nice comments, Palace fan, thank you.

Always liked Crystal Palace and feel you all did yourselves proud as a club, players and fans. No Billy big time behaviour on or off the pitch. Good luck for the rest of the season.

[MachoMadness]

I think our best spell of the game came after the first went in, but the 2nd really knocked the stuffing out of us. We tried again at the start of the 2nd but you could see the belief draining with every failed attack. By the end they comfortably saw the game out. Very professional performance from Palace, I thought, but it's good that they showed us a lot of respect.

[drfchound]

The whole EPL thing is really weird. We spend pretty much all our time trying to avoid relegation and getting the very occasional win over the top six which is normally the highlight of our season. We have learnt a style of football which is defend for our lives and hit teams on the break. We aren’t going to make top 6 or even top 8 we are highly unlikely to get into Europe and even if we did it would be a disaster as we don’t have the squad to compete. We are desperately trying to improve our ground but have been for 5 years + and it looks like at least another 5 before we succeed, predominantly because we play our player so much we can’t afford a new stadium, but we have the pay them fortunes or they won’t want to come to us. The atmosphere at most EPL clubs is woeful but we try to be the odd ones out in that respect. On the plus side we do see some incredible players, we do get that occasional win over Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal and we do sometimes get opportunities in the cup which is why we, the fans, wanted to win it so much yesterday.

I think some of your fans are unnecessary harsh on your team after yesterday. We had the fortune of scoring early and the timing of the second couldn’t have been better. I think if you could have grown into the game and kept it 0-0 for 30 mins we would have had a very difficult afternoon but after the first goal your crowd and some players seemed to lose belief and it went a bit quiet. I wish you well for the rest of the season and have a sneaking suspicion you will be at Wembley at the end of May. Good luck!! I suspect many Palace fans will be supporting you if you do.

Hi Palace Fan in Peace.
Your description of your life in the PL reminds me very much of the time spent in the Championship.
As a small club it was always going to be tough just to stay up and we also had the pleasure of kicking sand into the face of a big club now and again.

You are very astute in your observation of some of our fans.
We were second best in the game but that was to be expected I guess.
Our hope was to cause an upset but the odds were against us and we needed to have luck to win.
The early deflected goal was a big setback but even then I thought we might have nicked an equaliser and it would have been game on.

On another day eh...........

[DonnyBazR0ver]

You have to have the aspiration to succeed and beat the odds. The sheer joy of getting there and joining the elite is something can never be erased from the history books.

Once there, it's a different ball game/mindset.

Teams like Palace, Swansea, Burnley, Watford, who we used to compete with in the Championship with modest fan bases managed to find a formula that worked for them.

How you use the finances to your advantage is a massive part of the game now. I think the clubs above have done it well and kept their integrity and recognise how important the fans are as part of their identity. Palace have had their hardships in the past so fair play to them and good luck to them

Anyway, one step at a time. .

[LincsRover]

Then the Bournemouth billy big b*ll*xes (not easy to say after a pint or three) will start saying Bournemouth should beat TLO Donny because of that time we beat Everton or such like! You’re only as good/big as your last season - except for the obscene parachute payments for failure of course! 

[BillyStubbsTears]

My football utopia would be winning Tier 3 like we did at Brentford, then going all Groundhog Day. Forgetting it had ever happened and doing again the next season.

Over, and over, and over again...

I have no interest whatsoever in making it to the PL, because that could only be done with an obscene injection of cash in the current climate. And if that happened, my club would no longer be my club.

[Move DRFC]

I would have thought most fans of every club who's not been there would want just one season in the Premier League mixing it with the big boys. If the team survives? Brilliant - that'll be at least two years - a bit like Huddersfield now!

If you want great stories to tell the kids about, I'm sure 'that one season where we won at Liverpool, drew at Man City, and nearly stayed up' is more interesting than endless tales about not winning at Walsall in so many years.

Getting into Europe - possible for a relatively small club like Bournemouth nowadays - will also bring about stories when the inevitable 'dropping back down a couple of divisions' becomes a reality!

Agreed. You must be mental if Prem isn't your dream being a Rovers fan. England to win the World Cup and Rovers to get in the Prem are the two football dreams for me

[i_ateallthepies]

I would have thought most fans of every club who's not been there would want just one season in the Premier League mixing it with the big boys. If the team survives? Brilliant - that'll be at least two years - a bit like Huddersfield now!

If you want great stories to tell the kids about, I'm sure 'that one season where we won at Liverpool, drew at Man City, and nearly stayed up' is more interesting than endless tales about not winning at Walsall in so many years.

Getting into Europe - possible for a relatively small club like Bournemouth nowadays - will also bring about stories when the inevitable 'dropping back down a couple of divisions' becomes a reality!

Agreed. You must be mental if Prem isn't your dream being a Rovers fan. England to win the World Cup and Rovers to get in the Prem are the two football dreams for me

What gets me to attend games on a Saturday is the belief that we have an equal chance of competing and beating the team we're up against.  Being in the PL would do nothing, absolutely nothing to soften the misery of seeing my team arseholed week in and week out.

Between the two of us, Move DRFC, I'm damned sure I know who is mental on this matter.

[Alan Southstand]

One season in the Premier League would make perfect sense, especially when you consider the size and longevity of parachute payments.

[roversontheup]

My football utopia would be winning Tier 3 like we did at Brentford, then going all Groundhog Day. Forgetting it had ever happened and doing again the next season.

Over, and over, and over again...

I have no interest whatsoever in making it to the PL, because that could only be done with an obscene injection of cash in the current climate. And if that happened, my club would no longer be my club.

And I thought it was only me that felt like that. Agree with you BST...we would lose the soul of our club.

[rich1471]

I don't understand why fans says they would not like to get to premier league , really it would be amazing , the championship was good but to watch rovers going to Liverpool, city and united would not excite you ,for me it would be fxxking amazing we would still be Donny rovers just enjoy the ride these things would not come around every day 

[dickos1]

My football utopia would be winning Tier 3 like we did at Brentford, then going all Groundhog Day. Forgetting it had ever happened and doing again the next season.

Over, and over, and over again...

I have no interest whatsoever in making it to the PL, because that could only be done with an obscene injection of cash in the current climate. And if that happened, my club would no longer be my club.

Cardiff and Huddersfield have both done it over the last couple of seasons without spending anywhere near an obscene amount of cash.

[Bristol Red Rover]

If we could get there without *risking* breaking the bank, grab the money available, invest only in players that would serve us well in the Championship, sabotage the advertising illuminations, not have a betting company sponsor us, and then bask in that parachute payment, that'll do.

But realistically, it's not for me.

[Move DRFC]

I would have thought most fans of every club who's not been there would want just one season in the Premier League mixing it with the big boys. If the team survives? Brilliant - that'll be at least two years - a bit like Huddersfield now!

If you want great stories to tell the kids about, I'm sure 'that one season where we won at Liverpool, drew at Man City, and nearly stayed up' is more interesting than endless tales about not winning at Walsall in so many years.

Getting into Europe - possible for a relatively small club like Bournemouth nowadays - will also bring about stories when the inevitable 'dropping back down a couple of divisions' becomes a reality!

Agreed. You must be mental if Prem isn't your dream being a Rovers fan. England to win the World Cup and Rovers to get in the Prem are the two football dreams for me

What gets me to attend games on a Saturday is the belief that we have an equal chance of competing and beating the team we're up against.  Being in the PL would do nothing, absolutely nothing to soften the misery of seeing my team arseholed week in and week out.

Between the two of us, Move DRFC, I'm damned sure I know who is mental on this matter.

But if we got to the Prem, we would be an attractive proposition to international players, investors etc, enabling us to massivley improve our team and club and thus giving us a chance to stay up. It would be massive for the club. Look at Huddersfield and Bournemouth. Huddersfield stayed up and Bournemouth have kept on improving. Burnley as well are now established in the Prem.

Not to mention the quality of football on show every week - plus the euphoria of getting promoted from the Championship. If I'm mental for wanting that, then shoot me down!

Through your logic you'd rather us be in League Two than the Premier League then I assume? Sorry just having a giggle at that thought.