Being Prepared for Success

While the first half  of this article may not read like it, it is actually Everton-related. So, please, do indulge me, folks.

I've been thinking alot about Crystal Palace since the end of the season in May. Initially, I was jealous. Two trophies in 12 months, the Europa League to look forward to this coming season, and the chance to really progress in what is a tough domestic league. 

While their final league position in May was poor, the season was perhaps a practice run for the next one. European football is a rarity at clubs like Palace. Managing on several fronts, especially with a European front thrown in, takes practice,. You only gain the knowledge required to manage it through experience. The hope for Palace was perhaps that they would better manage the gravy train that is the Premier League next season, while still moving forward with the opportunity for real expansion that is Europe. 

The overall plan, I thought, like with any club, would have been that you offered a decent squad, one that Palace had patiently worked hard on to accumulate, enough to stay at the club. You would have re-negotiated commercial deals to a more advantagous payout, given the footballing and profile raising success, both real and predicted. You would have had the extra income generated from more home games and happier fans. Happy fans spend money after all.  

In a nutshell, Palace seemed to have made the leap forward we all dream of. A chance to grow as a club, both financially, and within the wider footballing world. 

Yet, as the summer has gone on, and the more you see what has gone on at Palace over the last 12 months, the more it feels like a missed opportuity. Not a wasted one — I'm picking my words carefully here — I do mean a missed opportunity. A thought that has kept coming in to my mind is that the club wasn't in the position to make the most of the chance when it came. 

Even in the middle of a period of outstanding achievement for the club, their best players were being sold at will, their most successful manager voiced his dissatisfaction several times, and then walked at the end of his contract. (To rub salt in that particular wound, he then stayed and took another job in England.). 

Then there is the case of Brennan Johnson. He had a poor season by his standards last season, but he is a quality player nonetheless. (No offence to Dwight McNeil, but the feeling amongst fans is that we got the better end of the deal.) If the gossip about his wages being too high for Palace to keep him are to be believed, then this would make you wonder about the finances at the club. And this is the core of my point on Palace.

As a club, their income, finances, revenue streams just don't appear to be so high that they can afford to go without selling top players to survive. I don't mean that in a disrepectful way; with our recent history I wouldn't dare. And Palace must be doing something right as a club if they have stayed in the Premier League and have avoided the worst of the PSR stuff.  But, even with the recent success, even with the newfound appeal and potential, they are still having to sell their best players.

Perhaps if they had gambled on keeping their top stars, they would have made some of the money back with a higher league finish, a lump sum in June rather than a number of transfer fees in installments. But for a club with limited revenue streams, is the gamble worth it? Installments on transfer fees are a regular and guarenteed income over several financial years. They keep creditors, Revenue and the bank manager happy. They keep the lights on. And if I am being fair, and honest, there is a part of me that thinks the owners at Palace made the right call. 

And this brings me on to Everton. I have a couple of points:

Firstly, what has happened at Palace has made me think if, during the bleakest of times under, say, Frank Lampard or Sean Dyche, would we have been in a position to have made the most of cup success? Don't get me wrong, I would have bitten your hand off at the shoulder if you had offered it to me. And I think the morale- and confidence-boost it would have given the players, club and fans would have been immense. But would it really have given us the opportunity to grow, to progress, that I think Palace have missed to some degree? I genuinely think that the answer would have been "no". We were a basket case, and a cup win, while enjoyable, would only have been a sticking plaster to a large extent. 

Part of the reason why I think the Palace owners made the right call — and a large part of the reason that we were a basket case — is that our previous owner, one Mr. Moshiri, gambled with hundreds of millions of pounds, and lost. 

Do I think that we would now, given where we are as a club, make the most of an opportunity a cup win would give us? Perhaps. Not a definite yes. I think it's too soon to say, but I think it would certainly push the club in the right direction. While not the quantum leap I have mentioned in a previous article, it would certainly add to the solid progress we've made in the last season and a half.

For all the disagreements amongst the fanbase around The Friedkin Group — and time will tell long term if they really had the ambition as custodians to match that of the  — I think they have brought the club up to a standard where a cup win can move us forward, where the potential is there to make the most of an opportunity. They have been the opposite of Moshiri. And while the progress has felt painfully slow, it has been sensible and methodical.

Perhaps, in part, the approach of the Palace owners is also one of slow and steady. Again, if I am be fair, perhaps the success wasn't a fluke, it wasn't a flash in the pan. Perhaps their recruitment team will start the cycle all over again, and the experience of playing consecutive seasons in Europe will stand to them. Perhaps the watchword for both the fans and owners of Everton and Palace is patience. 

As football fans, we sometimes really need the mantra of what we want and what we need being two very seperate things hammered home to us. Slow and steady, or gambling and risk taking. Asking Everton and Palace fans to sit in a pub in the run up to Saturday week, and asking them to discuss would make for an interesting couple of hours. 

My second point relates to what I suppose are our rivals, competitors, models to copy, in terms of club management and development. I will be interested to see how Brentford and Brighton do next season, juggling domestic and European competitions. Both clubs have been viewed as the standard bearers in recent seasons in terms of how a well ran club, without the mega resources of a City, Arsenal or Liverpool should behave. Part of me hopes they succeed, as it shows that there is a blueprint that can help to bring genuine and continues success to a club that isn't part of the elite. 

For me, it has been interesting to read my articles from 12 months ago. Hindsight has a great way of showing you whether or not your knowledge, opinons and gut feelings as a fan were right or wrong. I think that it will be interesting to see where Palace, Brentford and Brighton are in twelve months time. Hopefully they are indicators of where we are headed as a club.