PALACE POISED FOR CHANGING OF THE GUARD
IT MAY SOON BE THE END OF THE ROAD FOR ROY BUT NEW FACES MEAN FRESH RISKS... AND THE STAKES ARE HIGH.
IN A week which has seen one palace have its dirty washing hung out like never before, it could be argued the Premier League’s royal household has never had it so good. Crystal Palace have had eight seasons at football’s top table – twice as many as they have enjoyed at any other point in their history – and could pretty much ensure a ninth top-flight campaign in 202122 by beating West Brom at Selhurst Park tomorrow.
But while the statesmanlike Roy Hodgson is generally lauded for his achievements on a national scale, there are those within the Palace household who feel the 73-year-old is not helping them to move with the times.
While Hodgson is still to indicate whether he is ready to retire, the season is rapidly drawing to a close with the manager and a huge chunk of his playing squad out of contract in the summer and still to be offered new terms. The club has some big decisions to make.
THE PALACE WAY
Ever since Ian Holloway took the Eagles into the Premier League in 2013, the goal at Palace has been to stay there.
That ambition is neatly summed up by the pragmatism of five of the six permanent managers to follow Holloway into the job – Tony Pulis, Neil Warnock, Alan Pardew, Sam Allardyce and for the last three-and-a-half years Hodgson – comfortably the club’s longest-serving boss since Steve Coppell left in 1993.
The former England manager was the safe pair of hands Palace returned to after a brief flirtation with a different approach. Former Ajax and Inter Milan boss Frank de Boer felt like an innovative appointment in the summer of 2017 but he was sent packing after just four league games in charge before the club reverted to type.
Judged by their status as an established Premier League club, it is hard to argue chairman Steve Parish hasn’t got it right.
Since promotion, Palace have finished between tenth and 15th with
points tallies of 45, 48, 42, 41, 44, 49 and 43. The one real piece of escapism came in 2016 when Alan Pardew led them to the FA Cup final, where decisions and fortune were against them in the 2-1 defeat to Manchester United.
Given Palace’s modest outlay in the transfer market since Hodgson’s arrival – the exciting Eberechi Eze is his only signing costing more than £10million – their American backers should be thrilled their top-flight status has rarely been in doubt.
But many Palace supporters have for some time wondered whether that really should be the height of their ambitions.
A SUMMER OF CHANGE
If ever there was a one-off opportunity to change the direction of a club, it surely comes this summer for Palace.
Not only is Hodgson out of contract but he could field an entire team of players who are also free to walk away from the club; Christian Benteke, for whom they paid Liverpool £35m in 2016, Gary Cahill, Andros Townsend, Patrick van Aanholt, Joel Ward, Wayne Hennessey, Nathaniel Clyne, Mamadou Sakho, Scott Dann, James McCarthy and Connor Wickham. That is not such a surprise when you consider Palace have been fielding the oldest team in the division this season and it challenges the argument for sticking with the status quo – particularly as speculation over star man Wilfried Zaha’s future is never far away either.
After De Boer was axed, he complained he encountered a dressing-room resistant to his methods and a board unprepared to make the wholesale changes he expected – with only Jairo Riedewald and Sakho being brought in to fit his philosophy.
‘Obviously some players aren’t as comfortable on the ball as he would like,’ said Zaha, one of those probably left disappointed De Boer’s more expansive approach never took hold.
‘There wasn’t the right mixture for the way we wanted to play.’
If Palace were to make a change this summer, a new manager would be able to stamp his own imprint on the squad. But the stakes are high. With the squad in such a state of flux, it would be far harder to turn back the clock than when Hodgson replaced De Boer in the autumn of 2017.
MAKING A NOISE
They may have overseas backing but Palace are a Premier League club that can boast a genuine fan pulling the strings in chairman Parish and many of those who have his ear – ambassador Mark Bright and sporting director Dougie Freedman among them – are steeped in red and blue. So despite the empty stadiums, they will be aware supporters have been growing increasingly restless at the lack of entertainment on show, even in a season where Zaha has been back towards his best and Eze has undoubtedly added a spark. That banner posted outside the training ground by the Holmesdale Fanatics recently – ‘Palace pandemic of apathy. Change this mentality. Restore the pride ambition and vision’ – will have hit a nerve.
The show of rebellion came in the run-up to the visit to bitter rivals Brighton, a club who do seem to be investing in a long-term vision under Graham Potter. And while Hodgson felt Benteke’s subsequent last-gasp winner was more important than possession statistics or shots on goal, it was the ultimate smash-andgrab victory.
Could it be the sober reality of being forced to sit at home and watch matches has actually sparked the discontent? That the incessant bouncing and singing by the ‘Ultras’ that made the Selhurst Park atmosphere so captivating had proved a useful diversion to what has been happening on the pitch?
The top flight may be the be-alland-end-all for the financiers and Hodgson has suggested fans should be careful what they wish for. But the harsh reality – at a time when Brighton are at real risk of becoming the best footballing team in the Championship – is grinding their way to safety may be rather less fun for the fans than Palace’s previous incarnation as a yo-yo club.
THE FINAL HURRAH
It feels a shade disrespectful to be speculating on the future of a piece of Croydon royalty but Hodgson is well aware he is in the twilight of a 45-year managerial career that has taken in 21 jobs in eight countries. ‘I’m trying the best I can to enjoy every day in football still and I don’t know what the future holds, but at the same time I’m not that bothered quite frankly what the future holds,’ Hodgson said recently.
If Palace stick with him for one more year, they know exactly what they are getting. As their former captain Chris Coleman said as a summariser during Palace’s 4-1 defeat at Tottenham, ‘Roy Hodgson’s Plan B will be to work harder at Plan A’. It would feel a shame for such a long and distinguished career to end in an empty stadium, for Hodgson not to get the final hurrah he so richly deserves. But – as Frank Lampard’s ruthless sacking by Chelsea in January reminded us – there is precious little room for sentiment in football.