Crystal Palace Thread [R]

[bigbrooklynlou]

I have this bad feeling about Kiraly ...

Hislop given trial
http://skysports.planetfootball.com/list.asp?hlid=293374&cpid=10&CLID=31&lid=&title=Eagles+trial+Hislop&channel=football_home

Hislop heads Eagles list
http://iccroydon.icnetwork.co.uk/sports/news/tm_objectid=15767727%26method=full%26siteid=53340%26headline=hislop%2dheads%2deagles%2dlist-name_page.html

Icelandin keeper Bjarni Halldorsson given trial
http://skysports.planetfootball.com/list.asp?hlid=292999&CPID=94&CLID=31&lid=&title=Keeper+chase+hots+up&channel=football_home

(From Sky) Eagles boss Iain Dowie is keen to have Hislop on his books to provide competition for Gabor Kiraly as they look to win promotion back to The Premiership.

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.

(From Croyden) There is no denying the Hungary international's obvious class, but it is understood that Palace are prepared to listen to offers for the former Hertha Berlin keeper, who is one of the higher earners on SE25.

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.

[THFC1]

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.

[bigbrooklynlou]

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.

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 ...)

(From Sky website) Goalkeeper Shaka Hislop will not be joining Crystal Palace, chairman Simon Jordan has revealed.

The 36-year-old former Newcastle and Portsmouth stopper had been on trial with the Eagles and played on their recent pre-season tour of Germany.

But Jordan said: "I think Shaka will sign for someone else - I do not believe we are doing a deal with him.

"We have two goalkeepers (Gabor Kiraly and Julian Speroni) and the idea was for one of them to depart before we signed another one. (BL - looks like some deal fell through ...)

"That situation has not manifested and, although I don't know whom Shaka will sign for, he is no longer playing for us," Jordan told Sky Sports News.
m SJ

[bigbrooklynlou]

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.

[THFC1]

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.

[THFC1]

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.

[bigbrooklynlou]

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.

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


Palace to clarify Johnson future

Andy Johnson Everton bid for Johnson dismissed - Crystal Palace are to hold a press conference at 0900 BST on Tuesday to clarify Andy Johnson's future.

Johnson, Palace boss Iain Dowie and club chairman Simon Jordan will all be present and fans will no doubt hope that the striker has decided to stay.

Everton failed with a £6m bid for the 24-year-old England international at the end of June.

Johnson handed in a transfer request earlier in the summer but Palace have maintained that he will not be sold.

Tottenham and West Brom were also linked with the frontman but nothing came of their reported interest.

Johnson had asked for a move to boost his chances of making the England squad if the national side qualifies for the 2006 World Cup.

He scored 21 Premiership goals last season but could not stop the Eagles from being relegated to the Championship.

[bigbrooklynlou]

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.

[THFC1]

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.

[bigbrooklynlou]

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.

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 :D

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 (http://iccroydon.icnetwork.co.uk/crystalpalace/news/tm_objectid=15792537%26method=full%26siteid=53340%26headline=eagles%2ddrive%2dfor%2dbentley%2d-name_page.html)

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 (http://skysports.planetfootball.com/list.asp?hlid=296123&cpid=10&CLID=31&lid=&title=Torghelle's+Greece+move&channel=football_home)

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.

[bigbrooklynlou]

and oh, THFC1, Routledge 'apologizes'

http://skysports.planetfootball.com/list.asp?hlid=296079&CPID=8&CLID=31&lid=&title=Routledge+makes+Eagles+apology&channel=football_home

Which reminds me of the game we had against Birmingham in early spring of 05. Every time Morrison got the ball, BOOOO. Gray? BOOOOO. Steve Bruce makes a substitution? BOOOOOO.

Routledge makes a run on the wings? BOOOOO.

Its amazing how this kid, who came up from the CP academy, if only he kept his mouth shut and maybe even thrown the fans a bone here and there, could have left the club and be remembered fondly. As it stood, he entered the ranks of Gray, Morrison, and Bruce in the hearts of the fans while still playing for the club.

Dummy, you should of said those words last year.

[THFC1]

Routledge is a good lad really and he is quiet.

Looking at that team you wrote out, the wingers look good, Kolkka is a good player. Also for the centre midfield along with Aki and Hughes, Palace have Ben Watson and Tom Soares so their is a lot of competition in that area of the pitch.

http://skysports.planetfootball.com/list.asp?hlid=296123&cpid=10&CLID=31&lid=&title=Torghelle's+Greece+move&channel=football_home

Torghelle is close to completing a loan move to Panathinaikos.

[bigbrooklynlou]

Routledge is a good lad really and he is quiet.

Looking at that team you wrote out, the wingers look good, Kolkka is a good player. Also for the centre midfield along with Aki and Hughes, Palace have Ben Watson and Tom Soares so their is a lot of competition in that area of the pitch.

Torghelle is close to completing a loan move to Panathinaikos.

Agreed. Wayne is a good kid. And as a kid, he is prone to do the occasional childish things. None of the CP fans hold the move against him. Its hard to turn down a chance to play in the EPL. Its the shirt thing that got everyone in an uproar.

As for the latest rumors ... Torghelle was loaned out to make room for ... Mellor. Liverpool looking to make a season long loan of Mellor to CP. Two more days till the end of Silly Season. CP getting Mellor and Bentley on loans will be a huge coup.

[THFC1]

Linked with Palace today is Joseph Desire-Job from Middlesbrough for £1m

[OrlandoSPUR]

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)

Sky Sports thinks the Eagles will be 3rd. That is quite possible.

PREDICTED POSITION: 3rd
STAR MAN: Andy Johnson
ONE TO WATCH: Gary Borrowdale
SKYBET ODDS: 11/2
INS: Jon Macken (Manchester City), Darren Ward (Millwall), Jobi McAnuff (Cardiff)
OUTS: Wayne Routledge (Tottenham), Darren Powell (Southampton), Vassilios Lakis (AEK Athens), Neil Shipperley (Sheffield United

[Lillywhite]

Just popping by as the new season starts for you boys in only a matter of hours now. Good luck to the Palace for the season. My first GF came from a family of Eagle's supporters, so I have a little soft spot for them. I reckon it'll be you and Norwich for the top 2 this season.


* Not that the man isn't a legend. He isn't a great manager though and um, er, slightly nutty. :)

[OrlandoSPUR]

..not a good start today for CP, a loss to newly promoted Luton Town. Although the bright spot is that AJ only has 39 goals to go.

[THFC1]

The newly promoted teams can be a nightmare to play, they have come through last season with a winning mentality and playing a team that got relegated they obviously have a losing mentality. Its only the 1st game of the season all the other favourites only got a point today (Wolves, Norwich & Southampton).

[OrlandoSPUR]

do you reckon AJ has even a slight chance to make the WC?

[THFC1]

I think his chances were slim even if he did stay in the Premiership. England have Owen, Rooney who are certain to be going assuming England get their and barring injuries and Defoe has one and a half feet on the plane. I think Sven will take four strikers so England need abit of flexibility so he will most likely take a big man possibly Crouch or someone else.