Guardian writers’ predicted position: 11th (NB: this is not necessarily Dominic Fifield’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)
Last season’s position: 10th
Odds to win the league (via Oddschecker): 2,000-1
Steve Parish had offered up an admission deep into a lengthy late-night studio appearance at TalkSport this month, the revealing soundbite lost amid reflections on a dizzying five years of constant progress in one corner of south London. “We’re all a bit worried, even Alan Pardew, about all the optimism and people saying: ‘Oh, you’ll be fine now,’” said the Crystal Palace co-chairman. “That’s when you’re at your most vulnerable in football, after all. When you think you’ve got everything sussed.”
Talk of apprehension was delivered tongue in cheek, perhaps reflecting a relatively recent past when a sighed “typical Palace” was synonymous with false dawns, self-destruction and dismal timing: the mirage of the Team of the Eighties; missing out on Europe despite finishing third; suffering relegation despite accruing 49 points in the newly formed Premier League, one more than they needed to finish 10th last season; or the indignity of demotion despite finishing fourth from bottom. It is probably worth throwing in the two spells endured in administration since 1998. But Palace, and their four co-owners, are acutely aware that the perception is changing.
These are exhilarating times at Selhurst Park after two mid-table finishes that have never felt dull, the opportunity provided by promotion two years ago having been well and truly seized. The club is arguably healthier now than it has ever been but where only recently this was a set-up and fan-base pinching themselves to be in this lofty position, now they crave to be properly established: all those long-term aspirations, from the redevelopment of the stadium to investing further in community projects across south London, will be more easily realised as a top-flight club. There is a recognition that the chance to maintain the rapid growth propelled by Premier League broadcast revenues must not be passed up.
The elite division is littered with good news stories, a collection of tales of clubs reborn, from Southampton to Swansea, Bournemouth to Watford. Each has to be judged in context, with Palace no different. Retreat five years and they were teetering on the brink, a broken business languishing in administration with hostile creditors threatening to call in the liquidators and more than 200 supporters massing outside the headquarters of Lloyds Banking Group in the City seeking to persuade the bank to lower its asking price for the stadium. The compromises struck in those desperate days saw the four-man CPFC (2010) consortium inherit a threadbare squad of players who, shorn of 10 points, had survived in the Championship on the final afternoon of the 2009-10 campaign.
There were admissions from the new owners that they would have to learn on the hoof about life in football, their business plan forged on financial prudence. The leeway given to George Burley, the new manager, in the transfer market extended to the free transfer arrivals of Andy Dorman and David Wright, the purchase of Owen Garvan for a six-figure fee, and the signing of Edgar Davids on a pay-as-you-play deal after two years out of the professional game. The bespectacled Dutchman with the mind-boggling curriculum vitae provided a much-needed dash of glamour, even if he ended up playing only seven times before departing with the team bottom of the second tier.
“We are here because we want to give Crystal Palace a better future,” said Parish at the time. “Nobody is being delusional about where we are as a club or what we might go on to achieve.” The immediate priority was survival and consolidation at the lower level. Back then any suggestion that, within five years, Palace would be signing Yohan Cabaye from Paris Saint-Germain for a club record fee, revamping the club’s Beckenham training ground on the back of a £23m pre-tax profit for the 2013-14 campaign, and spending pre-season competing against Sporting Lisbon in a four-team tournament in Cape Town would probably have been dismissed as distinctly delusional.
And yet that is Palace’s reality. Every year has brought progress, from Championship survival to mid-table, promotion via the play-offs, and now 11th- and 10th-place finishes at the higher level. Last term’s achievement was admirable given Tony Pulis’s abrupt departure 48 hours before the start of the campaign proper at Arsenal, an unanticipated divorce which had the potential to undermine all the effort that had gone into securing unlikely survival the previous year.
Neil Warnock was only ever a stop-gap while Parish and the board, so close to appointing Malky Mackay, targeted a long-term replacement. Pardew, with his close connections to club and area, is a natural fit. Everything about Palace in the period since has been feelgood, an atmosphere reflected as much on the pitch as in the stands.
The optimism of which Parish spoke is born largely of last season’s rise from bottom three on New Year’s Day to top half on the final afternoon, but has been fuelled by the additions made since. Cabaye, for a fee that could rise to £12.5m, will offer control, guile and an ability to open up defences, attributes lacking at times last season when Palace – with 10 home defeats – were the most accommodating host club in the division.
Successfully securing a France international from PSG before a season that culminates in Euro 2016 was a huge statement of intent, but the signings of Alex McCarthy from Queens Park Rangers and Patrick Bamford on a season-long loan from Chelsea were ambitious moves in their own right. Pardew and the board were seeking five new first-team players to inject proper competition. The hope is another centre-back and a forward will follow before the deadline passes on 1 September.
This is, arguably, already the best squad Palace have ever had, even if the team who finished third under Steve Coppell in 1991 constituted a stronger one to 11. There is rare strength in central midfield, personified by the strongarm Mile Jedinak, and even a trio of players – Cabaye, Jordon Mutch and the excellent Jason Puncheon – who aspire to be playmakers.
Yannick Bolasie will wear the No10 shirt and remains a lavishly talented free spirit, notching a Premier League hat-trick at Sunderland in April and terrorising full-backs at times. The Congolese and a settled Wilfried Zaha offer pace, skill and incision from the flanks, though their reputations will precede them from now on. They will need to maintain recent progress to make a consistent mark.
The same might be said of James McArthur and Scott Dann, classy players who have thrived in Palace colours and who signed long-term contracts this summer. Up front, where the side have seemed blunt, Glenn Murray, Dwight Gayle and Marouane Chamakh each flourished in bursts. Pardew must juggle with combinations and supply lines to ensure his team are prolific enough to hold their own. Their threat on the counterattack is well established. It has been dismantling stubborn opponents, particularly at home, where they have been found wanting, even if Cabaye and Bamford should help in that regard.
There have been changes to the backroom staff, with Ben Garner and George Wood departed, and John Salako likely to play a more significant role coaching the first team. The medical team, too, has been revamped and upgraded with Palace, ultimately, aspiring to emulate clubs such as Everton by holding their own in this division.
Yet, as Parish and Pardew have suggested, they must focus initially on survival in what is likely to be a more anxious season than ever given the new television deal that comes into effect in a year’s time. Maintain recent standards and they can prosper. Even so, all this optimism can seem unnerving. The co-chairman may have a point.
