Wider conclusions from today

P

PatrickA

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Location
London
Country
England
1) Will many games be played on Saturday in the Premier League next season? There are now so many teams in Europe that Thursday/ Sunday fixtures will become more prevalent. As a grumpy old man I mourn the near death of the Saturday 3pm fixture schedule.
2) West Ham were relegated with 39 points, a total that usually guarantees safety.
I hope I’m not tempting fate but I think none of the promoted clubs will achieve this next season. Sunderland and Leeds prove that relegated clubs can brook the trend , but I think they are the anamoly.
3) As a grumpy old man, perhaps I’m not ‘in touch with my emotions’ , but is anybody else weary of all the emotional football goodbyes taking place around the country today?
It all strikes me a faintly preposterous and frankly quite shallow.
 
I think the conference final is a plaster over what in fairness has been a dreadful season. Very little good football after November. Then it has been one thing after another. Let’s face it, Ollie would have been gone the second we went out of the conference cup… However I am pretty sure we would all take where we have finished and the s*** we have had to put up with this season (poor football, players sold… poor replacements coming in, the JPM saga, the Ollie Saga, if we lift another trophy on Wednesday. Non of us will remember the s*** of February if we lift the cup.

One thing I really will never understand is the money we spent in January. Why we didn’t spend that last summer when we may have kept Ollie happy (not sure that was possible either way) but it is still a mystery how we spend pretty much f*** all in August and then spend the best part of £100 million and on what we spent it on too… staggering.
 
15th place league finish, as bad as anything Hodgson or any other Palace manager has served up in the last decade. An absolutely disgraceful defence of the domestic Cup, I have to wonder if they threw that match to pursue other interests... From a brief third place to near freefall and total implosion, what seemed so promising has ended abjectly, with the added bonus of the club spending more on very ordinary players for the privilege. Nevertheless, the Conference Cup final offers something out of nothing and the result will likely define next season.
 
I think we should remember the wider context. This is a team that has lost Olise one summer, followed by Eze, and then Guehi. Palace just do not have players of that quality, ever, and we had three. We were always going to end up with a lesser squad, whoever we bought in as replacements.

This summer signalled something that was always going to happen, and always will when we put together a talented squad: it's inevitable break up. Key individuals concluded they had gone as far as they could with us, and wanted to take the opportunity for a shot at the big time that they had earned. Nothing could be done to prevent that. It was never a question of us building on our success, it was always going to be the end of a chapter.

When you add those two elements together you've got a transition season with a lesser squad. 15th and never in relegation trouble is very good in those circumstances. Especially given all the extra games in Europe. That has been a weird experience in my opinion. An endless grind of dull games, generally against opposition of an awful standard, far lower than for league games. I wouldn't want to do it again particularly, and feel that winning the conference league would be a notably lesser achievement than winning the FA cup, given the relative standards.

At the same time, we've got a final to look forward to and the prospect of Europa League football next year. That alone could be hugely significant, not because we'll win that trophy or make huge amounts of money, but because the next chapter could start with genuinely big games against glamour opponents. It could start with a mix of excitement and trepidation, rather than just the latter.

Finally, whatever happens on Wednesday, decisions taken this year will likely come home to roost. We've got away with Johnson being awful and Nketiah, Larsen, Pino, and Guessand contributing a fraction of their predecessors and current teammates like Sarr, but that's largely because of defensive strength. We conceded 51 goals this season, same as last year, but our goals scored was down 20%. Mateta will surely leave, and I can't see us selling any of these players to fund a rebuild, so they simply must do far better. Fair play to palace who, unlike wolves or whoever, spent the transfer profits they made on replacements but, at the same time, Spurs and West Ham are good examples of getting stuck with expensive underperformers. Hopefully that won't be the legacy of this season for us.
 
DenTyler said:
I think the conference final is a plaster over what in fairness has been a dreadful season. Very little good football after November. Then it has been one thing after another. Let’s face it, Ollie would have been gone the second we went out of the conference cup… However I am pretty sure we would all take where we have finished and the s*** we have had to put up with this season (poor football, players sold… poor replacements coming in, the JPM saga, the Ollie Saga, if we lift another trophy on Wednesday. Non of us will remember the s*** of February if we lift the cup.

One thing I really will never understand is the money we spent in January. Why we didn’t spend that last summer when we may have kept Ollie happy (not sure that was possible either way) but it is still a mystery how we spend pretty much f*** all in August and then spend the best part of £100 million and on what we spent it on too… staggering.
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Our average points total over 13 seasons is 45.8, so being 0.8 below the average isnt by any means a dreadful season. We have been competing in Europe all season and got to the final.

I guess you aren't that old enough to know that a season like this would be beyond the wildest dreams, years ago.

Conclusion is that enjoy whats happening now, as it won't go on for ever, reference West Ham.
 
As I said on the match thread:
Think you will find teams with small squads playing 60 games in a season will struggle like us in the league. If we win Wednesday it will be worth it but again we will struggle again next season with our squad unless we strengthen considerably. I doubt we can afford to do that though. I expect Bournemouth, Brighton and Sunderland who have had a terrific season in the league will also struggle like we have done next season with their Euro campaign. If we lose Wednesday we might just have a better league position next season. What is best for us as I’m not sure I want a league season like this one for us but then two years in Europe is hard to argue against?
 
Painter said:
Our average points total over 13 seasons is 45.8, so being 0.8 below the average isnt by any means a dreadful season. We have been competing in Europe all season and got to the final.

I guess you aren't that old enough to know that a season like this would be beyond the wildest dreams, years ago.

Conclusion is that enjoy whats happening now, as it won't go on for ever, reference West Ham.
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alas I am old enough believe me. However like many it is easy to forget where we come from and I must confess that at times I have been guilty of thinking we had what it takes to push forwards. Alas we are Palace and you are correct, 13 years in the premier league, 1 FA cup, 1 charity shield and a final in Europe is absolutely beyond any of our wildest dreams. However a big part of life is moving forwards and I will not apologise for wanting more. We are close but it was clear we did not have the squad to manage the shear number of games this season. I am not going to jump on Parish and the board because honestly ask West Ham Fans how much they would like somebody like Parish in charge, somebody who genuinely puts the clubs welfare first even when we all give him stick for not spending this or that etc.

This is THE GOLDEN age for Palace, if the next manager comes in a takes us forwards then that would be amazing. For me personally. May 17th 2025 was the best moment outside of family that I have ever experienced. If I never get to experience that again I will not complain because it was magical.

Finally… this is Palace, what the hell would we all do if we were not moaning about something. Happy Days
 
DenTyler said:
I think the conference final is a plaster over what in fairness has been a dreadful season. Very little good football after November. Then it has been one thing after another. Let’s face it, Ollie would have been gone the second we went out of the conference cup… However I am pretty sure we would all take where we have finished and the s*** we have had to put up with this season (poor football, players sold… poor replacements coming in, the JPM saga, the Ollie Saga, if we lift another trophy on Wednesday. Non of us will remember the s*** of February if we lift the cup.

One thing I really will never understand is the money we spent in January. Why we didn’t spend that last summer when we may have kept Ollie happy (not sure that was possible either way) but it is still a mystery how we spend pretty much f*** all in August and then spend the best part of £100 million and on what we spent it on too… staggering.
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I think the whole Europa League/Conference League debacle hit us hard. So much energy was put into to that and we didn’t know our transfer budget as we didn’t know what comp we’d be playing in.

That said, £85m on Larson and Johnson is utter madness. I have faith that Larson will come good….

We need to be realistic that for a small squad like ours, it’s incredibly tough to be competitive in both the Premier League and Europe. 17 extra games, plus a League Cup run is an insane amount of games. The fact is we stayed up comfortably and are in a European final.

If we’re to progress as a club, we need regular European football. Winning the Conference League is our easiest route in so should take priority.

If we win on Wednesday it’s been a fantastic season and the experience gained in Europe should put us in better shape to attack next season
 
Goal Machine said:
I think the whole Europa League/Conference League debacle hit us hard. So much energy was put into to that and we didn’t know our transfer budget as we didn’t know what comp we’d be playing in.

That said, £85m on Larson and Johnson is utter madness. I have faith that Larson will come good….

We need to be realistic that for a small squad like ours, it’s incredibly tough to be competitive in both the Premier League and Europe. 17 extra games, plus a League Cup run is an insane amount of games. The fact is we stayed up comfortably and are in a European final.

If we’re to progress as a club, we need regular European football. Winning the Conference League is our easiest route in so should take priority.

If we win on Wednesday it’s been a fantastic season and the experience gained in Europe should put us in better shape to attack next season
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It’s our only route in this season
 
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