In the supermarket car park, the little guy with an expensive haircut and a sharp blue suit drops a scrap of paper, pops into a cool car and speeds off. The note is picked up, and here’s what it says:
What’s it all mean?
Seriously, do you think for one minute that Steve Parish would ever tell me? After all, I’m only a fan.
So I won’t wait, I’ll try to do the job for him, let you know what I found out. And here it is. Steve Parish’s ‘To Do List’, with a few of my own opinions thrown in…
DEAL WITH BLITZ, HARRY & TEXT
Is that the Board? Remember, in late-March, celebrity Palace fan Kevin Day tweeted: “Very sorry to see PV go. Our problems lie much further up the ladder than him.”
Since saving the club in 2010, Parish has piloted Palace through a decade of top-flight football that Palace fans never dreamed possible, so our gratitude to this hero is real.
Of course, the man remains ambitious for the Palace business that he’s grown so fast, but Steve is also realistic and decisive when he has to be. He knows full well we all make mistakes. When results go wrong, he’s shown he’s not scared to change course – as Pardew, de Boer and Vieira all discovered. Having saved the Palace in its dying breath, Parish has since supervised a new era that – despite the club’s elevation – is designed to keep Crystal Palace true to its fans and to South London. But eras aren’t what they used to be, and stuff happens!
From Steve’s viewpoint, board meetings mean the faces looking back at him are not necessarily Palace fans. The faces belong to Blitz, Harry & Text.
THE ISSUE: Between them, Blitz, Harry & Text own the majority of shares in our club. In theory, they could boot Parish out, but there seems to be an agreement or understanding or rule that lets Steve keep control of the day-to-day running of the club. Still, we fans are in the dark – even as the years go by – about what these Directors do and what their intentions are for their tens of millions invested in the Palace.
THE BACKGROUND: David Blitzer and Josh Harris are hedge fund billionaires who’ve built a collection of ownership holdings in sports teams, mostly US-based. They bought Philadelphia (NBA, 2011), New Jersey (NHL, 2013) and this year led the purchase of the Washington Commanders (NFL) for over 4billion quid, a world-record price ever paid for a sports franchise.
However, if they’re looking for silverware, Blitzer and Harris have so far drawn a big fat blank. Does that mean they’re chucking everything behind Palace to get us to win something? Erm, actually, no. It seems that neither man has invested any more money here for 7 years, although Palace have been receiving loans from somewhere (to help through the pandemic and also to cover day-to-day running losses), and it’s possible that connections of Blitzer and Harris might be providing that temporary finance.
Although they’re colleagues, Parish, Blitzer and Harris are not necessarily best friends. When Palace reportedly refused large bids for Zaha in 2019, it was rumoured that Harris and Blitzer favoured selling Wilf. Who knows? If they preferred selling back then, they might have been right!
But, even if you ignore their American activities and just focus on what these two men are doing in England, their Premier League ambitions stretch a long way beyond Palace. Indeed, in just the last 12 months their wandering eyes have taken one or both of them to try to buy a stake in first Chelsea (with Lord Coe and others) and then Manchester United.
THE WORRY RATING: High. We can’t be sure what they plan to do.
THE ISSUE: Last December, John Textor bought control of the famous French club, Olympique Lyonnais (“OL”). According to reports, OL has now come under the watchful eye of French football’s financial watchdog, the DNCG, after they found “financial irregularities in the budget presented by Textor”. As a result, the club’s wage bill for next season and its net spend in this transfer window now both appear to be subject to careful monitoring.
This concerns Parish only because it has been reported that Textor tried to satisfy the DNCG’s financial requirements by attempting to move his company’s share capital in other clubs (Botafogo and Molenbeek as well as Crystal Palace) into OL’s holding company. Only after the DNCG rejected this approach did Textor end up meeting the DNCG requirements by injecting an additional 60m euros of cash into Olympique Lyonnais.
THE WORRY RATING: High. In 2021, John Textor purchased a large holding in our club. Textor is the largest single shareholder in the Palace, so what he does with his shares matter to all of us.
THE “PROJECT”
THE ISSUE: In 2021/22, there was much talk of Palace’s “project”, a brave management team appointment, brave signings and a brave style of football that ditched the quite understandable Royball diet of holding on to what we have. Now, in 2023/24, we’ve doubled back to Roy – with, it must be said, great results so far.
The unfortunate aspect of the Hodgson appointment is that it delivers a clear message to players, potential new recruits, fans, coaching staff and their families: led by Steve Parish, this year Palace are taking the ultimate short-term view, for one year.
Why? We all know, it’s the stark fear of going down. The consequences of relegation often drive decisions at Crystal Palace – some might say, too often.
THE BACKGROUND: In the past ten years, whenever Steve Parish sees relegation risk is elevated, he has always been quick to act, remove what he sees as the source of risk and replace it with a pair of “safe hands”. Holloway was replaced by arch-defence coach Pulis, Pardew was replaced by relegation saviour Allardyce, and both DeBoer and Vieira were replaced by Hodgson.
The first 3 times, Parish’s action worked perfectly. This 4th time, we hope Steve’s magic touch will hold. On the other hand, Hodgson’s appointment does make it appear that Palace will be happy if 2023/24 just brings safety from relegation, and this concern combined with the apparent absence of ambition is worrying for us all.
At a recent event in Brussels, Parish said: “Relegation from the Premier League is probably the biggest financial jeopardy in world football.” Palace’s turnover is currently £175million – Parish estimates that, in the Championship, it would fall to £70million. “In the third season, it’s worse and by the fourth season (without a parachute payment) you’re down to about £20million. So, in three years you have to come down from £175million to £20million.”
Hence, Roy. With his safe hands. No risks. Stay up, give ourselves 12 months to find a new leader to plot a project to take this club to a higher level.
THE WORRY RATING: Normal. This doesn’t seem very different to what we’ve become used to in the last 10 years.
In part 2 of this three part article, Jon will focus on Steve’s judgement of Patrick Vieira’s performance as Palace manager, the summer transfer window and the winter window’s most curious signing.
