Re: Crystal Palace Thread : Nice win today! There is hope after all of you staying up. I am a Fulham fan and realize we are in the thick of the relegation battle, but I just wanted to take a minute to say how great I think Palace has done this season. Coming into the start of the season, I thought Palace would struggle to reach 20 points by the end of the season. That is obviously not true. Between Iain Dowie's managerial skills and the goal-scoring prowess of Andy Johnson, Palace finds themselves with a life line with three matches to play. More importantly than that, I have been impressed with the way Palace comes out and plays hard football every match. Watching Fulham sometimes this season, I wish we would have some of the same intensity that Palace has showed game in and game out. That to me, is a credit to Dowie. He has the players believing and playing hard all the time. The results have not gone your way, but you have left everything out on the field every match this season. I want Fulham to stay up and I am confident they will. After that, I really hope you guys stay up as well. You deserve it more than anyone else! Cheers and good luck!
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : I hope Palace do stay up so we can take back the points you stole from us I live 5-10 minutes away from Selhurst Park so i really do hope they stay up. I also would like Tottenham to sign Routledge, i think he has alot of ability, it is his first season in the Premiership & he is already a England U21 international.
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/crystal_palace/4604863.stm Striker Jon Macken has left Manchester City to join Crystal Palace for an undisclosed fee. The 27-year-old, who signed for City for £5m in 2002, decided to continue his career elsewhere after being told he had no future at Eastlands. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Have fun with him. Hard worker, but seems to forget how to score.
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : CP News: Eagles get Milwalls' Ward (-1.5 mil) (http://skysports.planetfootball.com...=Lions+confirm+Ward+deal&channel=championship) Considering how much Milwall and Palace hate each other, the fact that their player of the year goes to Palace is verrry interesting. Should be a fun set of games... Eagles sign McAnuff (-.45 mil) (http://skysports.planetfootball.com...les+set+for+double+swoop&channel=championship) Basically a cheaper, less annoying version of Wayno, who can hopefully take corner kicks. Eagles sign Macken (see above) Excellent signing. Should be the partner that the club has been looking for AJ but could not sign last year. Routledge finally goes to the Spurs (+2.5 - 3 mil) (http://skysports.planetfootball.com...purs+agree+Routledge+fee&channel=championship) Wayno goes. The money we got for him basically paid for Macken, McAnuff, and Ward. Bye bye Wayno. It was fun. Enjoy getting splinters on the Spurs' bench. Bolton coach McDonald joins Eagles (http://skysports.planetfootball.com...olton+coach+joins+Eagles&channel=championship) Huuuuge signing. Almsot as big as the player signings. McDonalds tactical brains to Dowie's strategic / motivational vision. Dowie and McDonald, can together, make one of the best coaching teams in football. AJ wants to leave Palace (http://skysports.planetfootball.com...+blames+Sven+for+AJ+saga&channel=championship) (http://skysports.planetfootball.com...ohnson+wants+Palace+exit&channel=championship) (http://skysports.planetfootball.com...hnson:+Decision+was+mine&channel=championship) According to owner SJ, Johnson is not going anywhere. The logic being that even if we get 10 mil for him, we get 25 mil for getting promoted. So theres a big financial plus to keeping him and letting him tear up the Champions League. That said, if someone does offer some insane amount of money for him, he will get sold since the club basically got him for nothing as a make weight in the Morrison deal a few years back. If he goes, it will be come January. Though I love AJ, I will not go bonkers if we lose him. It happens. My big fear is that we lose Kiraly. Strikers you can get. Good keepers are VERY hard to find (see Man U, Villa, Arsenal, etc)
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : He wont be getting any splinters with us, he will be a starter, a winger with pace and skill is what we have been crying out for.
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : THFC1, I hope he does well for the Spurs. Whatever you all do, don't let him take corner kicks....
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : LOL, i don't think he will be our corner taker, Reid or Carrick is most likely.
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : Freedman inks extension http://www.holmesdale.net/page.php?id=82&story=2699 Not a 'sexy' signing, but a good one for the club. Dougie bleeds Palace. Though he did not contribute much during last year's stay in the EPL (thanks to Dowie's fixation on the 451) he has scored 96 goals for the team in his career and will hit the 100 mark sometime during the season. Due to Dougies age and the addition of Macken, his days of being a main striker are gone, but he can contribute off the bench. McAnuff eager for the season to start http://iccroydon.icnetwork.co.uk/cr...e=mcanuff---i-m--just-the-job--name_page.html He knows that we are the favorites to bounce back up into the EPL and is looking forward to getting out of the Champions League with us. All I can do is pray that he (a) plays well and (b) does not get the nasty habit of previous Palace wingers (Routledge and Gray) to bolt from the club at the first sniff of another club's interest.
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : Shipperley and Ventola gone http://iccroydon.icnetwork.co.uk/cr...ails-out-of-his-palace-chapter-name_page.html His goal sent us up to the Premiership, but after an injury plagued 04/05 season punctuated with weight / training issues as well as being on the wrong side of 30, Palace and Shipps part ways. Hopefully he will land a spot with another Championship or Div 1 side. We'll miss you Shipps. Inter Milan loan Ventola has the potential of being a great striker. Unfortunately he was injured early in the 04/05 season. Palace offered a pay as you play contract which he turned down. He's going back to Italy to play for Serie B Atalanta.
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : I hope Palace keep hold of Johnson, although as he says it is a World Cup year but it is in the interest of Palace to keep him. I think Palace will be up their at the end of the season, the midfield (Soares, Hughes and Riihilahti) impressed me when they played Tottenham last season especially Soares. I'm not sure whether Dowie will stick with playing a 4-5-1, i personally think he will play 2 strikers. McAnuff is a good signing, i do think they paid over the top for Darren Ward though but you have to trust Dowie's judgement.
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : Peter Crouch sold to Liverpool Peter "Freeek of Nature©" Crouch has been sold to Liverpool for 7 million £. Thank you Reds for making our attempt to bounce back to the EPL that much easier. With Crouch's leaving, fellow relegatees Southampton are pretty much officially gutted. Because both Norwitch and CP controlled their spending during the January transfer window in case they were relegated, both are in a position to immediately bounce back up to the EPL. Southampton - IN Dennis Wise - Transferred on a free Dave Bassett - Assisting Harry Redknapp for at least 1 month with coaching Sir Clive Woodward - Joining Saints in the near future in a Director of Football capacity Darren Powell - Signed on a free from Crystal Palace Southampton - OUT Aladiene Yahia - On loan at St Etienne who have option to buy in the summer Anders Svensson - Contract not extended, joining Elfsborg Andreas Jakobsson - Heading back home to Helsingborgs for £500,000 Calum Davenport - Returned to Spurs after loan period expired Christian Damiano - Contract terminated by mutual consent Graham Le Saux - Retired Henri Camara - Returned to Wolves after loan period expired Jamie Redknapp - Retired, bad knees Jason Dodd - Transferred to Brighton after his contract expired Jelle van Damme - Loaned out to Werder Bremen Jim Smith - Contract not extended. Jo Tessem - Contract not extended, returning to either Norway or Sweden Kevin Phillips - Signed for Aston Villa for £1,000,000 Mike Williamson - Signed for Wycombe Olivier Bernard - Released from 6 month contract - Destination currently unknown Peter Crouch - Sold to Liverpool for £7,000,000 Steve Wigley - Left the club to join Man City Southampton - ON EDGE Nigel Quashie - Suprisingly quiet Antti Niemi - Being chased after Claus Lundekvam - According to Norwegian newspapers is in talks with Celtic. French outfit Le Mans also interested. Lundekvam is the team Captain. Ugh. Now Southampton does have a good youth/reserve team of youngsters. The future's bright if they can get rid of the high earners that do nothing (Redknapps unnamed 'useless' players), but in the short term expect a struggle. In the long term, once they clear the books, they may bounce back up.
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : Crouch may have gone, but Southampton have an extra £7 million in the bank - and going on Redknapp's track record, he could put whatever part of that is made available to him to good use. Crouch is quite good with the ball on the floor for the lanky sod that he is, but poor in the air considering. Anyway, don't write off the rest of the Championship teams - we made that mistake last season (along with Leeds and Leicester). Just when you've got used to Premiership football, you come crashing to earth with a bump and have to play "gritty" football again. Anyway, you're welcome to 2nd place in the Championship, behind us (wishful thinking).
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : I believe its actually 3 mill up front, with the other 4 deferred or baced on incentives. Not exactly the pay day everyone imagines. Well, Leeds got smacked because they almost went bankrupt and became the example of what not to do if there is even a remote possibility of getting relegated. I'm so looking forward to the season; gritty and all. As for the Wolves, they should do well. Kudos on getting Fuller.
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : I think it will be between Wolves, Norwich, Palace & Southampton and outsiders maybe Leicester & Plymouth, all though Plymouth may have trouble scoring goals.
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : THFC, Shoot me an email at greekfire@hotmail.com. I need some info about buying tickets for a TH game this fall. I'm a headin' to the UK for 2 weeks of footie spectating and would like to catch an EPL game (besides the 4 CP games I plan on watching)
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : I have this bad feeling about Kiraly ... Hislop given trial http://skysports.planetfootball.com...tle=Eagles+trial+Hislop&channel=football_home Hislop heads Eagles list http://iccroydon.icnetwork.co.uk/sp...dline=hislop-heads-eagles-list-name_page.html Icelandin keeper Bjarni Halldorsson given trial http://skysports.planetfootball.com...le=Keeper+chase+hots+up&channel=football_home Competition for Kiraly? Competition? The man was a legend last year. I'm getting this sneaky suspicion that Kiraly is going to go for a hefty transfer fee to an EPL club. Though I love the guy (crazy pajama bottoms and all), the rationale for any potential sale is there and (unfortunately) legitimate. * We don't need an EPL grade keeper in the CCC . Speroni, who was shaky in the start of last season, has been rock steady in the reserve team since then. Speroni can easily be a first team CCC keeper with the ageing Hislop kept in reserve. If Speroni gains in confidence / experience in the 05/06 campaign, he'll be a good keeper if we manage to bouce back to the EPL. * Kiraly's wages are high. Though the club is in good financial state and can afford to keep him, I hate to say it, its is more important to keep AJ than Kiraly. If it boils down to the team making a choice on one set of high wages to be paid this season, its going to be AJ's and not Kiraly's. * Kiraly's valuation. Considering that Kiraly came in on a free and was signed to a 4 year deal, he can command a high price if sold. He was arguably on of the best keepers in the EPL last year. And is a very sellable asset. Club owner SJ has been extremely vocal about not selling AJ (his quote about rather becoming a Milwall fan than selling AJ was one for the ages) but has not said boo about Kiraly.
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : I saw a quote from Plymouth's new Hungarian player, he was talking about he thinks Torghelle will stay but Kiraly will go. The only Premiership teams that may go after Kiraly are West Brom and Wigan, the rest seem ok with keepers.
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : Well, accordimg to some CP BBS'ers, Jordan was on Sky Sports today, and made the following points: - Hislop not signing for Palace. He would only sign if one of the two current keepers left. (So the Kiraly conspiracy theories go out the window) - AJ will not be sold. (The boy is consistent ...) - Macken and AJ will be paired up for tonight's Inter friendly. (Lets hope its the begining of a beautiful partnership ...)
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : Gabor Kiraly interview translated from a Hungarian newspaper by a Hungarian CPFC fan. Interesting parts are bolded. http://www.nemzetisport.hu/cikk.php?cikk=90639 Tranfers: Premiership teams are after the goalie Kiraly's Price Is 4 Million Pounds Looking at individual stats alone, Gabor Kiraly just closed one of the best seasons of his career, finishing second to Petr Czech in save efficiency in the Premier League. Still, Crystal Palace, the golie's team, were relegated, so Kiraly, at least as things stand right now, will have to show off his between-the-sticks flights in The Championship, England's second flight. Unless the London club, which appears to be intent to keep him unconditionally, decides to sell him. "It's difficult to say what's gonna happen at this point," Kiraly said. "Two goalies, Shaka Hislop and Marco Ambrosio were with the team from Monday to Saturday, so I guess they negotiated with them. I was talking with my colleague Julian Speroni, and we figured that one of us was definitely going to be sold if either of them signs. I have no idea." "But has Palace bought anyone yet?" "Neither of them is here now. I asked my goaltender coach how things were on Tuesday and he told me that they wouldn't sell either of us and wouldn't buy a new goalie." "It seems like you wouldn't be surprised if you would be transfered." "There are a few opportunities, I wouldn't deny that, but our Chairman is asking for an unrealistically high price for me. Tell me, who's gonna pay four million pounds? Not for me, i'm pretty positive about that. But even if anybody would, they won't let me go. Not me and not anybody else. "Is that the same reason why the goal-machine Andy Johnson has to stay?" "Well, at least that's what I think. He had a very serious bidder just the other day, they were offering almost ten million pounds for him, but the Chairman let them know that they were wasting their time. They want to keep the team together, they are building new offices, pitches, a new gym, investing a lot of money, I doubt they are aiming at mediocrity." "Would you be disappointed to stay?" "Absolutely not. There's a tough season ahead of us, with 46 league games, cup fixtures and the pressure to be promoted. It's just that we are not the only ones, there are at least ten-twelve teams with similar goals." "Nevertheless, can we unequivocally say that you are staying?" "If there's an offer, I'd be glad to play in the Premiership, but it's all up to my team, Palace. If they let me go, I'll go, if not, I'll stay, but I'd be very happy to do that as well. It was last year when I had a choice, when my contract was up. I chose the Premiership then, it seems like it was a good choice, but my fate is not up to me right now." "Do you feel appreciated?" "Yes, I think so. I went into the fan shop the other day to get my new gray trousers renumbered, because i'll be wearing no. 1 instead of 28 from now, and everybody I saw wanted to have a word. I was talking to some of my older teammates and they were saying that going to the Premiership would be best for me and staying here would be best for the team. After all, almost all of our regulars stayed, Routledge is the only starter who left, plus Sorondo, Ventola and Powell among the fringe players, so the team seems strong. The only difference is, we won't be attacking with one striker, but two or three, because we can't be content with a draw here, we need to win, always, if possible. " Three Premier League teams entertained the idea of signing Kiraly this summer, but none of them got him yet. Newcastle had the biggest chance. "That's true, the offer was there up to the point when Shay Given signed. They wanted me to succeed him if he left. He stayed and so did I." West Ham was the first club to call Palace and the Hungarian goalie would have been in a similar situation as last year: newly promoted team fighting to avoid relegation. "My club was in negotiations with West Ham for a very long time, but finally decided to turn down the offer. They were bargaining hard, but Palace was asking too much." The third bidder was Portsmouth, which was already after Kiraly last summer. "Yeah, that was in the cards, but their board ended up chosing Sander Westerveld." Inter Friendly Yesterday was the friendly with Inter. No suprise, we lost 2-0. The intersting thing from all the feedback I've read from those that saw the game was how 'greedy' AJ was with the ball. Me thinks that AJ is going to have to unlearn alot of the lone striker mentality that he may have accumulated in the EPL now that he's in the CCC. CP will not be playing 451's for a looong time and AJ has to learn to make nice with his strike partners Macken/Friedman.
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : I was planning on going to the Inter game, i did not expect it to be anywhere near sold-out so the day before the game i looked on the Palace website and it said it is almost sold out so i didn't bother. Your right AJ must get use to playing with a strike partner. I make Norwich the favourites but i see no reason why Palace can't push them all the way.
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : Palace are having a press conference at 9am British time tomorrow (Tuesday). I think it has something to do with AJ, but apparantly Jordan, Dowie & AJ will be at the press conference.
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : I just saw. This makes no sense. Its gonna be a looong 17 hours. If he's leaving, the honor of announcing the deal goes to the receiving team. If he's staying, why make an announcement? The only situation that I can guess at where all three have to be present, is AJ is taking back his transfer request. After seeing the offers made for him, may have saw the light and realized he's not being sold. SJ wouldn't have the ego to sit through a press conference with AJ publicly announcing his leaving (The whole "I'd rather root for Milwall than sell AJ" will smack him in the face hard). I hate to say it, but this reeks of good news. But then again, this is Palace, so anything is possible... http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/crystal_palace/4735753.stm
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : Scuttlebut on all the CP forums is that we're keeping AJ and that he's retracting his transfer request. The conference will also announce something else as well. Supposedly the England coach was at the friendly on Sturday and spoke to AJ. I wonder if this has anything to do with the announcement.
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : http://skysports.planetfootball.com/list.asp?hlid=296080&CPID=10&CLID=&lid=2&title=AJ+inks+bumper+new+Eagles+deal&channel=football_home Andy Johnson signs new 5 year contract. I didnt expect him to sign for that long, i was expecting maybe a 1 year extension.
Re: Crystal Palace Thread : Sweetness. Great, great news. Basically Crystal Palace and AJ are married. Hats off to Simon Jordan for 'signing' AJ. Well done. With AJ staying it will boost the club up and with the pressure off AJ (contract wise and National team wise) he can now concentrate on what he does best, score goals. It also means that my Johnson jersey is not going to be obsolete for years to come The Press Conference had another facet to it. By re-signing AJ, trying to keep Routledge, and not selling Kiraly, Jordan has let it be known that CP is now a club that buys players rather than sells them. And according to Dowie more signings are in the works. Think about how many great players passed through CP on their way to other clubs. As its stands now, CP is basically positioned to win the CCC. GK................Kiraly................(arguably one of the best keepers) CD.......Ward............Fitz Hall.......(Solid middle) CB...Butterfield ..............Granville.(Solid quick pairing) MF..........Aki..........Hughes.........(Good for CCC only) W.....Macanuff...............Koolka.....(on paper solid) FW........Macken......AJ................(EPL quality) Eagles looking to get Bentley As you can see, all the pieces are in place except the center midfield which is where one of the other rumored signings are believed to be. Rumors are floating around that we are looking to get Bentley in a loan signing from Aresenal. I hate to say it, but both Aki and Hughes are best suited as Defensive / Holding midfielders. If the team does get Bentley, look for a 442 diamond formation with CP basically fielding a EPL quality team in the CCC. Other CP news .... Eagles looking for another striker Torghelle loaned out to Panathinaikos. Shame he only played a few games with us last year due to injury. That leaves CP with Macken and AJ as the main strikers and Dougie Freedman as the backup. We have some kids, but by loaning out Sandor, we'll need another striker. Either we are buying someone or getting one on loan. We'll know by Thursday.