Parish Out

PatrickA said:
It would be difficult to argue that Parish has been our greatest chairman.
The long unbroken run in the Premier League, the removal of the threat of administration, the signing of some of the best players in our history.
All things that long term fans thought they would probably never see.

Nonetheless, something has changed even if it’s difficult to put one’s finger on it.
It feels somehow different going to the ground these days.

Parish played on this whole drive around, ‘South London and Proud’, with a view to tapping into the huge catchment area and in the early days utilised board member Steve Browett to provide a direct conduit for the fans which worked very well.
Selhurst was rocking and the players seemed to get it with long term stays for the likes of Zaha, Speroni, Ward and McArthur who had a real affinity for the club.

Most of the above has gone, although it’s not all down to Parish.

His two big objectives were to create an academy and build a ground with a bigger capacity, both sensible in terms of trying to make the club self sustainable.
The first was achieved and designs for the new ground were released to a great fanfare with money supposedly ringfenced from the new owners to enable the work to be completed.
Since then if reports are correct all I hear is that two of the owners want out and have been trying to sell their investment.
There has also been the troubled involvement of Textor, and the more recent investment of Johnson which it’s unclear exactly what it brings.

On the football side Freedman has gone, and I believe he hasn’t properly been replaced and his presence has been missed by Parish as they had a good partnership.
By his own admission Parish relied heavily on Freedman for football matters.
I can’t prove it, but I doubt under Freedman that we would have spent around £80 million on Johnson and Larsen.

In conclusion Parish’s record is great, but where we go from here is anybody’s guess.
The lack of atmosphere in the ground, the lack of connection between the players and the fans, the uncertainty of the ground development, the seemingly befuddled transfer policy and the uncertain future of the ownership.

Parish’s past legacy is assured, his future one less so.
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Well articulated. Totally agree with your comments and assessment
 
13/14 seasons the most in the top division of any Palace team. Three major trophies, regardless of the fact it has always been a balancing act.
It took years of work to create the team of our recent successes , his work.
The break up of that team is the problem, regardless of money it is never easy to recreate , for Parish, or anyone else, football is littered with examples.
Parish, has as much chance of keeping us in this league as anyone else.
 
I'd take Parish running the club any day over becoming a real-life PlayStation emulation or vanity project for Mr.Hilal Bin Sayid, Taliban billionaire or the "consortium of business men", Red&BlueLake Initiatives Sports Holdings Plc, also owners of the California Dippers, Salt Lake Slam and the New Orleans Felchers.

He's clearly taken on too much since Dougie left and I sincerely hope that this time we get away by the skin of our teeth and he really does learn a lesson. I wouldn't object to him relinquishing more work to others at the club but they have to be good, not somebody who was fired from Wolves.
 
Parish needs to address player (and manager!) recruitment, and I don't know what exactly happened with the fanatics, but that's clearly an issue. Have the HF massively let us all down when we needed them most, or is it something the club have done? Their statement seemed to point to a wider attitude within the game.

But otherwise, we should be grateful for what we've got with him.
 
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