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A quick word from our sponsors, which I will remember, unlike as another host who isn't here this week, was sponsored by Vector, the printing embroidery company from west.esussex, I can't remember which. Sussex. Sussex. For all of your printing embroidery needs, you need to visit www.vector.co.uk, and it's vector with us. No. Thank you. Sorry, Rob's that? No. No. Carry on. Why do you not want to? What's your problem with Vector? Did they not embroide your shirt to the standards that you required? Correct. Oh. That's not true. Sorry to hear that. Yeah, so it's not all your embroidery needs. I mean, the sponsorship slots are really going to be wrong, if I'm honest. We're also sponsored by JC Innovation and Strategy, the brand and strategy consultancy from South London. Visit JC-IS.com. Yes. I will. There we go. I didn't know his name was Jim. All these years. Well, Jim, daily. I reinvented himself all the time. James. James. Sometimes Jim. Sometimes a vegan. Sometimes a full meat eater. Sometimes a comedian. Sometimes a jet eat. That's all sorts of stuff. Sometimes a comedian. Well, you know. I've seen this show, wouldn't it? Just once or twice. Just once or twice. Point for Palace. Yeah, good point. Very good point. I mean, I've got to come back very briefly to the predictions at the end of last week with both I and Kevin predicted the loss. Yes. So we've already been hammered for that. So what's your explanation of being quite so wrong, Kevin? I thought it was a pun. Yeah. Who'd hammer this for? Well, I've seen a few comments today online saying, are we going to eat humble pie for our negativity? Right. Just basing predictions on facts and logic and having seen Palace play to the point of six days. Yeah. Eat your humble pie. Yes. It was we predicted a narrative feat. I don't think we were the only people to do that. So what confounded our prediction then? I don't think it was a red card. I think we've been quick to criticize Pargy recently of what else has. But not making changes. He made the change at half time, which was a very important one. And to his credit, when West Ham went down to 10 min, he made a very positive change by bringing Fraser Campbell on. He went looking for the win. Mike, was it a red card? Yeah, absolutely. 100%. Well, because there's been quite a lot of contention about this amongst pundits and fans alike. I mean, sort me through why you consider it to be a red card. And then I'll talk you for a while. I consider it to be a red card as well. His foot was over the ball, stud showing, it was reckless. All these terms that we use now and referees are discussing red cards. It ticks all those boxes. It won't get rescinded. If it gets rescinded, I will donate 10 quid to a charity of FYP's choice. Okay. 20 quid. There we go. Did anyone see us getting back into the match at that point? I mean, it was sort of what's, it's around 60 minute mark that red card comes for you. It felt like it was a case of kind of a palace going through the motions and West Ham doing that too. Not that, I think we were trying, but there was a spell. I think it was about, in the 10 minutes before the red card happened, where West Ham were just in complete control. We really had a difficult, we found it difficult getting the ball back. So I think when that red card happened, which I think was also a red card, I think it was, it certainly made things a little bit easier for Palace, but equally you have to be able to exploit that situation. And West Ham are not a bad side. And even down to 10 men, they should, you know, you'd argue that they, they should have been able to control the game. So the position that a couple of pundits I've seen make on that red card, one of whom was Tony Gail, who would have, in course, beat entirely in partial on the match, I don't think. But, well, a slight disproportionate level between the two teams at his point, which I don't think is necessarily the case, is that it's not very high, he's not gone completely over the ball. It's not a starting to angle down, but he's not completely out of control. I was, I've only seen extended highlights because I was at a wedding, I'm sorry. And I have to say that about 10 past, thank you very much, it's about time, I'm an honest woman. About 10 past five, when we were currently around the phone, and Billich was given his, he's saying referees were determined to, he couldn't, he spoke to his lawyers, which was ludicrous to what he could say and what he couldn't say. So we're all thinking, well, this is clearly a miscarriage of justice. You'd see it first time in real time, that's just straight around every time when you see it first time. As the BBC Master Day commentator said, and then when you watch it again, you can go, I'm not entirely sure what they're making the fuss about, it was, it was way over the ball. It could have, if Gail had his leg planted, he would have broken his leg, simple as that, Gail did really well to get up and to avoid the challenge and then get up and not make a meal of it. You could part you afterwards, him saying it's not a red card, seems to be all part of his bizarre anger management thing that he's on at the moment. Because he looked angry and often on the touchline, you could clearly understand what Clayton would have gave it. And also it was as much of a red card as the one for Gail against the same player at Sellers Park earlier in the season, it would be perfectly always. It's interesting. We've had quite a bit of history with Kiyate, because the last time we played them at Upton Park, me like Jeddonak was the recipient of quite a few elbows from Kiyate, and he didn't get booted and then a few minutes later we end up going on the hunt for someone and end up elbowing someone himself. I think the thing as well is you would argue that if, I would argue that if West Ham had been the victim, if let's say Pyatt had been the victim of that tackle, you'd have seen the pundits take a completely different stance. Because at that point, I think that there is an element of West Ham bias, when it comes to London clubs, West Ham do seem to get the rub of the green, you look at the evening standard it tends to be a West Ham mouthpiece. And so then when they see a tackle like that and it's on a palace player and it puts West Ham's opportunity of maybe getting into the Champions League for their brand-new stadium at risk. Long, you've seen people take offense. But it seems to me that's a talk to two friends of one on a West Ham season, so you can tell the holders who are in a corporate situation on Saturday, in which I was supposed to be joining until I remember that I came winning. Dave both said, the reason it came about is that regardless of Rob said, they thought the start of the second half Palace came out and looked at a different team and it rattled West Ham. It was a back pass that rattled him and he thought that the red card, well not agree that it was a red card, but he thought the tackle was a corollary of the fact that we were much more in the game in the second half than we had been in the first half. But it was one of those, wasn't it, where you see it so often a player loses control of the ball and then it is slight over eagerness to win it back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If it firstly ends up over, it's ending exactly what happened to Murray when he got his second yellow stream, second yellow, let's tell us part. Same thing, Murray used to do that a lot. You can argue that it wasn't a red card, but you certainly can't argue as Billich did, it was a terrible miscarriage justice. You can fully understand why Clattenberg gave that decision and he was very close and regardless of what we said about him, he was the referee and I agree with Mike, I don't think it will be rescinded. Then to be honest, again, I thought Clattenberg was right to send gay off to that part. At the point of the time we were few, at the time I was for two days I just wouldn't have it until I watched it again and I think West Hand fans might, Wednesday or so, again, they might get, yeah, he was out of control of the tackle, his foot was way over the ball. At the point of contact, you could also say that Kiarte could have pulled out of it. He could have, especially at the point where he had his studs up, he could have withdrawn his leg at that point, but he didn't, which would go up coming on and having made a difference. You could say that he was intending to actually fall off. And also, I think, as Rob says, Pardie did take a positive approach for it and so we did explore the situation. We didn't just sit back and wait for something to happen in the last minute or so. We took the game to them and we could have scored, punching had a good chance in the 93rd minute. So, Twigal was obviously integrally involved in that particular incident. Obviously, he scores the goal with a great finish. You can all see where I'm going with this. No. Is that the answer to my question or is that -- should we be starting to go? No. Well, I think probably -- maybe. I think maybe. Yes. Well, I was just unaware that Mike's a guest in my house and he's had a honeymoon recently. I'd like to disagree with people that are exhausted. I thought Pardie's comments were really odd and we know that apparently he's a quite volatile character, Gail, and he's had his ups and downs with Pardie, but I don't know whether Pardie thought that saying out loud to the press that I've never really rated him and he's had trouble getting in the team, but maybe I've got to rely on him now. I'm not entirely sure they were the right way of motivating him, but I -- he does score goals. I mean, his goals score in record -- He's just saying that. Well, it's better than our other strikers. Compared to our other strikers, his hit rate is not impressive compared to the rest of the division, but it's compared to the strikers we've got. His last goal in the league was January 2015. When was his last 2015? Yeah. Was it? Yeah. Burnley away. But then how -- Just to play, there was a half -- How many times has he started in the game? He started at the day, but his goals per minute are far worse than Scott Dan, and I feel he doesn't contribute defensively as much as Scott Dan does. That's interesting. That's interesting. I didn't know that. I mean, that's -- In terms of -- I'm -- I'm supplying my own anecdotal evidence. So he's actually -- I think the problem for Gayle is that when he has played, we've tried to fit him into the existing system, and really, if you're going to play Gayle, you need to play him alongside someone like Adebayor, Wickham, and I don't know whether we're in a position to do that. I think that's probably one of the biggest things we have difficulty with. Pardee said that he's bulked up, he looks fitter, he looks stronger, he's obviously spent some time in the gym. Which I -- oh, as you say, I think that you've got to wonder whether that's just a bit of kidology, or, you know, whether he's actually been genuinely honest about it. But it is interesting that he hasn't started a game for that list since -- I think it was the man you gave away, he was sent off, and perhaps that had an impact on Pardee wanting to trust him, or, you know, whether it was a case that you put him into that situation where it's important that he plays, and then he gets sent off and ends up missing a game as a result as well. What I told is as well that it's like West Ham sending off -- he started that game at Salas Park, and then just read about like a headless rabbit. Was it Manu? It was West Ham. It was West Ham. Yeah, it was West Ham. But he started that game. He was an accident waiting to happen, because he was throwing himself in the tackles, trying to prove it. Yeah. He was trying to prove himself. So it's kind of odd. But the way Pardee was talking, he wouldn't be surprised to see himself, but you're absolutely right. And the worry was here. We used to say, "Go." Never had a chance to play off Murray, which would have been perfect. And I think you were on well with Wickham. I mean, there's -- you know, 4.4.2 is gradually creeping, but we're just -- you know, three or four teams are playing it with some degree of success, so I think it would be very interesting. Wickham, apparently, is going to be fit. I don't think I had a boil. By all start, if he is fit, it would be perfectly honest. You say 4.4.2 is back, in fact. Well, it's in variations there, aren't you? Yeah. We've played it a number of times, right? Um, I had a beer on Wickham recently. But successfully. For Pardee? No, no, no. Not at all. Because they're not a great partnership. And we've played it with Balassie, kind of playing off Wickham when we have the Newcastle game and we had our good run. I wouldn't begrudge Gail, the star, or a few stars, or run a game next to someone like Wickham in a 4.4.2, but I just don't think he's good enough for this level. He's played -- he looks -- Why not? When he plays as a one, as a lone striker, he looks like a child playing in playing adult football. He's a fantastic -- he's blessed -- we're talking about this after the game, actually. Unsurprisingly, I mean, just what do I care about for Balassie perhaps? He is blessed with sensational finishing ability, but nothing else other than that. And it's -- in most games where, particularly now where we're struggling, he just doesn't get enough chances to take advantage of that one asset he has and he just does not do anything else other than that he makes. He doesn't run the channels well enough. He makes bad decisions in possession. I'm not sure we haven't got the luxury of not playing a player who's blessed with extraordinary finishing ability. The big problem is -- sorry, if you do play a two-up front, who misses out? Because punching's going to start every game I've imagined now. Balassie's going to start. So hard doesn't deserve to be dropped, so I mean, that's the problem, because I think we don't want to see a game given a chance, but who's expensed? It's really, and we'll talk about the Norwich game later on. In our expo. Yeah. Exactly. Well done. It'll be really interesting to see what part he does with it, because the classic question is that he must win or must not lose, which is actually one of the questions we've got for part two. My apologies, in that case. Very well preempted. Yeah. But we'll come on. Very quickly on Gail. I think one of the other problems that he has is that you look at the way that Wiccan plays, and he runs across the back line like his life depends on it. And for someone who's as big as he is, you don't expect it, Wiccan has pace, but you don't really expect to see him chasing lost causes like he does. With Gail, I think the problem that he had was that he did that against West Ham in the previous fixture, and it went horribly wrong for him. And then since then, whenever he's come on, he's been expected to do it and just hasn't. He hasn't done it. And so now, in a position where he does run the channels, I think he actually, that's one thing that he is actually quite good at is finding the space, but the problem that he has is that he can only do that if he's got other people around him to support him in that situation, and that's what he misses. That's why he was so good when he played up alongside Glenn Murray. There was that movement. There is that understanding between him and other strikers, but you have to have the flexibility to do that, and you could argue, then, why is it that we don't play a system that suits Dwight Gail if he is that, that he finishes? The other hand, he would argue, and I'm only basing this on having extended highlights and talking to us about two West Ham mates, because they were so worried about his pace in the second half. They had played 10, 15 yards deeper than they had been in the first half, which gave us the space to get onto them, which we were doing in the second half in the way that we weren't in the first half. And Balesi and Punchy were playing much further for all and getting involved, and that was giving him space to get behind the forebats as well, as we weren't retreating as far as I sent it back. I think Gail does breathe, so I mean, he is a mystery wrapped in an enigma, but I don't know if he's a Premier League player, but at the same time, you can understand his only frustration of not being given a chance. And you know, Norris, you've got that massive sent it back now, the one who scored on closer than Saturday. So I'm not entirely sure that just matching Wickham up against him is going to be the answer. So Gail is certainly an option, whether that's possibly a better option off the bench. I don't know. But it was noticeable that we had to, when West Ham did make that mistake on Saturday, we had two players in the box, which is two strikers as well, which for us recently is really unusual. So you can only be praising for doing this job, and if there's one that says he's the best natural finisher at the club, it's hard to understand why he hasn't started a bit more often, particularly in that period where we were really, really struggling for goals when he was on the bench and not coming off. It was a really instinct to finish as well. That was great. It was a really good finish. It was not nearly as easy as people made it good. Just going back to the first half, because Marcia had loved to spend the entire podcast talking about Twigal, there was other stuff that came out of that West Ham match. The first half, Palace sat a lot more deep, a lot more compact, almost played a little bit like a Q-list team at times. It was one stage in the first half where Palace had only seen about 26% of the ball. So we think that's what they need to do for the rest of the season, just to grind out those last two, three, four points. Do what we did. This is actually why we played the top, I mean the cup game, and exactly the way we said we should be playing afterwards, the amount we had the ball is neither here nor there, really. No, it doesn't. You know, every West Ham fans, like I said, we made a game of it, we were decent opposition, arguably West Ham was slightly stronger, but they got a stronger squad, then we have full stop and they're on a run a good result. Yes, we do grind, of course you have to grind it out. We have to be solid and compact and defend the way we used to defend and then see what happens at the other end. Did we think it was a slightly more negative outlook than we've seen lately from a part of UT, given quite how deep they were sitting at times in that first half and given the fact that you had that sort of double pivot of Ledley and Jeddonack at the base of the midfield? Yeah, there's, I mean there's two factors to play, one, Jeddonack and Ledley do not have the legs of Kobay and MacArthur and when you lose both of those players, it's a lot easier to overrun Armid Field and then the only way to combat that is to sit deep and Dan and Delaney not exactly blessed the pace, so it's just inevitable and a couple of that with the run we've been on, there is a part you have spoken about tightening up, a lot of people have been clamoring for, you know, if only we could have cut us back for three or four games to stop the rock sort of thing. So I think it's a combination of the two things, not, I don't disagree with it, I would love to see, I'd love to see us keep a clean sheet, we haven't kept one, I think our bad run started with two normal draws which we were looking back with, disappointed about that, but I've taken a normal draw now just to tighten up and get that momentum back. Speaking of clean sheets, Mr Hennessy's come in for a little bit of criticism on the free kick, what do we make of that particularism, because obviously that's what allowed West Ham to get their noses in front, that was probably the incident that could have, you know, bucked for a red car, probably seen them saunter to fairly comfortable victory in the end, any thoughts on the accusations being levelled is why. I don't agree with that bit, I think there's a lot of people saying, forgetting that we came out the second half of a totally different attitude, so I don't think they would have sought it to. I don't think they're West Ham Rennillian in control of that game as people are implying. Mike? Yeah, it was, it was a shame that he took a step to the right, because it invites the criticism that he will inevitably get, and I know some people disagree with this, no one is saving that, step to the right or no step to the right. PA had put one on the other corner, tried to put one on the other corner, and went to have noticed, as we were lining up, and Ian Wright pointed out on match of the day, there were seven men in the wall, and actually the two West Ham men, and then punched and effectively next to them, so there's ten men in that wall, there's no way Hennessy can see what's happening until the ball's over the wall. Is there not his responsibility in terms of the number of men he's put in that wall? Yes, to a degree. No, I think that would have been worked out before, and with the training staff. Well, did he not trust the men that you've got covering that side of the goal? I thought we were defending it very well, I thought it was a good tactic to put, because we've quite tall team, it looked like that corner's covered. I think it's part of our job and it's part to be ultra critical sometimes, and I think you have to be ultra critical to blame Hennessy for that, but I don't know whether Pye is good enough to have spotted him moving as he came up to take the free kick. Certainly, their scouts would have told Pye that Hennessy has got a tendency to take a step to the right, so whether or not that was saveable, and I think looking at it as I've done over and over again, I think if he stayed where he was, he could have made a fair fist of saving it, and let's not forget it was a well-class goal, it's a well-class free kick, but the fact that they would have known that Hennessy has got a tendency to do that with free kicks, and he does do it, and it's something that needs to be coached out of him. His goal keeps being coached with it, his needs to work with him because he does it every time it's like a tick, he does it all the time, and whether that's because he doesn't trust the walls in the right place, whether it's because Pye put the ball there previously and because Pye to be fair looking at his previous free kicks does tend to put it in that other corner, whatever he got out of Fox, whatever, but there's no having said that, having said that with ultra critical, there's no real shame, sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and go, that's a well-class goal. I think with Hennessy, one of the problems that he has is that he's visibly nervous, and I mean that in the sense that when you see a cross coming into the box, I mean that in the sense that when you see a cross coming into the box, for example, there's that hesitancy to be, you know, you want a strong goalkeeper who has dominance in the box, who has that wherewith or to understand whether to come for a cross or not, and not to kind of delay or not to have a second guess, you know, not to second guess it, and when you do that, you then end up putting the defenders under pressure because they're thinking, well what is the goalkeeper going to do in this situation, there were a couple of crosses that came in against West Ham, where he did that, where he took one step forward and then back, you know, backtrack, it doesn't help him, is any other player subject to the sort of micro-analysis that we talk to West Ham, he read all the reports, read all the reports, and as I say, to one of the friends of West Ham, I mentioned to him, it was everyone having to go, Adrian, for the first go, he went, oh, it didn't really hurt me, it was a mistake, if he had done that, everyone had gone completely mental, as far as I can see, West Ham fans described his shoulders and went, oh well, it was a mistake, he shouldn't have done it, but it's not been. And even on, Hennessy, Hennessy taken a step to the right, got far more coverage from the pundits on Sky and BBC, than Adrian's mistake did, no one was having to go, Adrian, they just went, in fact one, I think it was Kevin Kilban last night, just went, it was such a good freaky, that he was fooled by the flight, and it was not, that was a really poor mistake, and hats off to the landing field, but if Hennessy had done that, it still, the tweets would still be happening, and the how is the questions would be about it, so there is, I think you're right, I think understandably, but I think Hennessy has become one of those players who, he basically, he's got to save two penalties in the Cup final before Palace round starts, and not subjecting to the sort of scrutiny that he's... I'll be appalled if he doesn't save three, I think the problem for him as well is that that Pi A goal was a world-class free kick, and in order to save a world-class free kick you probably have to be a world-class goalkeeper, arguably Hennessy isn't that, he does the job, you know, he is a goalkeeper for the club of our stature, and I think the micro-analysis has been excessive, I think that, I think, you know, I'm to blame for as much of that as well, because I, you know, I think that we could do with, personally, I'd rather see Julian Sproney being given a chance, but that's just because I'm perfectly biased. Pi made me a title as well, I've been on that, Chris, you always tend to say, yeah, thanks. There is an element of bias there, and a kind of, you know, you forget what, what, all the bad things that Sproney did last season, for example, or the mistakes that he made. Yeah, what Sproney was lucky enough to make his mistakes at a point in first game in a pre-Twitter era, because if, you know, if you don't social media, when Sproney was our goalkeeper first sworn in Premier League, he probably would never have played for us again, because he would have got terrible beliefs, and I think people forget that sometimes. That Sproney only became a hero after a lot of time in the wilderness, and a lot of work in his way back into the team, and a lot of loyalty, and Hennessy's, Hennessy's, the thing is Hennessy's a Premier League goalkeeper, the thing was that he's not a bad goalkeeper, like everybody says, I wouldn't be surprised if he's still our goalkeeper next season, because Pargy, Pargy clearly seems to rate him. Really disappointing thing for Hennessy as well is that we're all talking about his mistake for the free kick, but the fact that the free kick was actually given away there by Joel Ward, with what was a really bad tackle, having been told by Alan Pargy, supposedly, that you shouldn't be giving free kicks away in areas where Pi A can score them. That really should be also part of the focus. You're talking about a tackle that was so half-assed, really. It was so kind of, but this brings me on to my next point. Do we have a problem with Joel Ward? I think we've got a problem with our fullbacks, generally, don't we? I think to be fair to any footballer, it's all very well for Pargy to talk about, not giving quite the opportunity. It's the same as rugby coaches saying, you know, don't give penalties away. It's almost impossible. At some stage, you're going to be penalised, you know, because players buy fail so easily, even against good referees, players will get 1,000 in roundabouts, and I think it's hard to blame Ward for that. I mean, we have got a problem, we've definitely got a problem in the full-back position, and that was highlighted against Leicester more so than against Westam I think, because I mean, at least Sacco was covering Swari, certainly more so than he's been getting in previous games, but I think we've had this discussion before. I mean, we pretty much all agreed that three out of the back four probably aren't quite, you know, they're not top half Premier League at the moment. I mean, Joel Ward is, but it just isn't at the moment. Swari, the jury's still out, but yes, we have got a problem with the full-backs, and there's no doubt about that, but I do think Joel Ward's is temporary, because we've seen over the player you're carrying in the policy. My logic to this is that I think in some ways we've gone with a more expansive approach since Pargy's come in, and if you're looking at Joel Ward and saying, 'Well, you know, why and why isn't he as good as he was when Pulus was here?' Well, the whole outlook at that time was very different. You're asking Joel Ward to play a different kind of full-back role now, where he's expected to run the entire length of the pitch and provide defensive cover, and then also not have the wingers to cover him in the way that they used to under Pulus. You know, the Pulus approach was very much, if they've got the ball, you get behind it and you stop it from getting anywhere near the box, whereas now it's a case of if we've got the ball, we need to get everyone forward as quickly as we possibly can. It's the same with Swari. I think we do have a problem with our full-backs. I think that some of that is management with regards to tactics. I think that if we weren't asking Ward and Swari to push forward as much, you might let them focus on their defensive game a bit more, but then equally that approach is aimed at trying to pin opposition teams back and creating chances. Talking of creating chances, well, I'm really sick of this. Thank you very much. I can't remember his name. Talking of creating chances, a guy who creates a lot of chances generally for Palace and Eden has, I think, been at the top of the charts for that, despite being out injured, but came back on Saturday, was Jason Punchin. What did we think of his performance? Rusty, he missed a great chance. He, a couple of straight passes, well, in mind, he pined a couple of balls, full of the eyeballs into touch. But that obviously, everyone makes excuses for pitching. It's always been, it's had two international games. Yeah, exactly. As Punchin's just coming back for a long injury, and everyone says, well, he's cheating me. I had so many, slightly unfair judging by a few standards. There were so many modes in the crowd when Punchin's missed control at the pool, that misplaced the pass. And five minutes earlier, Pied, dinged one in touch, no one battering an eyelid. I was so glad to see him back. I feel a lot calmer with him and the team. He's so much better at protecting possession, generally makes the right decisions. I've stolen this from somewhere, read it somewhere, but he did bring a sense of passion back. He could jolt when he needed to, he dug out people when he needed to. There was one of the, when the sending off happened, he immediately went over to Pied to get instructions and then came back and made sure that, obviously, it was, you'd see if it was a Pied, you were in an instruction. But what we did was we swapped the wingers. Punchin, it was very much at the center of that, making sure that happened straight away. And that made, that made a huge difference, I think, more, more so than, than the substitutions that bring Gail and Campbell on having, having Balassie being able to run it, across well. And I think Punchin and whoever he ended up in midfield next to Genonac, it was much more, we were much more effective at feeding the wingers within that. I think he gives us, when he's at himself, and he wasn't for the three or four games before he got, he got injured, he wasn't playing as well as he could do, but he gives us a little bit of edge, he gives us a little bit of bite. He is a natural leader, which we've lacked a little bit, but he does play on the front foot a lot more, as well than the other midfield players we've got, as we talked about Lenny and Genonac, they're not, they're not like cancer, they haven't got the energy, they're not going to go box to box, so that's why they're sitting in front of the centre backs as much as anything, but Punchin does look to get forward, and there are moments, Albeit, I know he watched these on TV, but there were moments certainly in the second half, and certainly when there were little glimpses of what we were before Christmas with Balassie looking to get ahead of all Punchin feeding him in, and Balassie just doing the simple thing and getting behind the fallback and looking to put the crosses in, and Punchin, if he's in midfield, he will try and get into the box, I'll get into the box and give you another player in it, so I was really pleased to see him, but really pleased to see his energy, but again, he's another one, he's just not going to please all Palace fans all the time, I'm not entirely sure why that is, because even when he's not playing well, he's always looking to try and do something, he's always looking to cover the ground and do his work with both ends of the pitch, I mean. He's definitely a leader, I think, if you ask players who kind of set standards in the dressing room and on the training pitch, Punchin is one of those people, and I think that that attitude shows when you're actually watching the game, I think Punchin's had a bit of a tough one this season because his responsibilities have changed as a result of Kabai coming in, and he's not the pivotal figure anymore as he was in the season prior to that, but when he does, when he was introduced, you know, for the West Ham game, he's that controlling influence, and as you say, if you, I think the tension obviously showed with the mumbles and the groans when he misplaced the past, but that's partly because of the situation we're in, but he's clearly got that quality that can kind of influence the game, and he can pull the strings that make things work. And talking as well with Wickham, I think, when Wickham was playing well, the two or three games when he scored the girls, Punchin wasn't, was still out, wasn't he? So I've been punching him, with Wickham's movement upfront, and Punchin looking to get him in behind as well, as well as the presumed desire and velocity, I think it's going to give us a lot more options, a lot more flexibility. By the time we reached the semi-final, you know, by the time we played the semi-final, we could end up with our full midfield backing in. Oh, we could played, but even if we had two of the three back, so, Kabai, MacArthur Punchin, we've played with either two or all three missing, since Stoke. So, which you could argue is one of the reasons why we've been as poor as we have. It's one of the reasons. I don't think there's a struggle in the way that we have. You can, it's an excuse, but it doesn't justify it. No, I think you've taken any problem. I mean, if you take out, if you take out our team's entire first-choice midfield and the logical first-choice back up, then, you know, any team's going to struggle. The depth of our, if you take content and drink water at a Leicester, they're going to get relegated. The depth of our squad is obviously a problem, but it does show when you take out the three best ball-playing sentiment fielders that we have, and you expect the team to kind of perform, you know, at the same standard. Well, also, especially when you've sent out, potentially one of the best ball-playing midfield players you've got, on loan to Plymouth, or wherever it is, it's gone for the rest of the season, which is a decision that's still mystifying me. But he's not even making the team at Plymouth, at the moment. So, I don't think you could argue. Well, considering the lack of options we've had to get rid of an option, rid of the player who's going to win the young player of the year by several furlongs, it just seems a nod decision to me to let somebody with that potential go at this stage of the season. I think, well, we were panicking, and that's to be fair to Jen now, as well as who stepped up a little bit to play three or four weeks ago. The idea of Ledley and Jen now being home until was having everybody. See, I think, but then you look at the way that Boataine played at Swansea, and it was nice to see him play. But by that one chance, he really didn't get that involved. And I think that's the thing that this is a player who needs to play games, and I think that the same applies for Sully Kai Kai. So, you look at these two players that are out online, and they're doing well. But the reason why they're doing well is because they're getting to play regular football, and they're playing competitive regular football. So, the opportunity will come for them, I'm certain. And an opportunity will come for us to speak more about Palace. Oh, have you been waiting for that? Haven't they? Thank you so much. I thought you'd drift in the middle of it. You're just waiting for the little tune. I know, I've glazed over. I've glazed over. There were certain key words coming out. You weren't talking about employment law and tribunal. Well, you should wait until the invoice for last week comes right in the post, I'm telling you. We will be back in part two, where we will return with your questions. [Music] Hello, and welcome back to the five-year plan podcast. Hey! You've got 175 sponsored by Vector, the printing embroidery company, for all your printing embroidery needs, funnily enough. And their website is www.vector.co.uk and it's Vector with us. Hey! Thank you very much. I'm also sponsored by JC Innovation and Strategy, the Global Innovation and Strategy Consultants from South London. Visit JC-IS.com. I will. There we go, and we're back with Kevin, Mike, and Rob. And we're going to do questions. I've also got a story to turn at the end as well. We've got questions. Where's JD or Jim or whatever his name is? Where's he talking? Well, we felt we needed some preparation and organization to help. And it was just not a non-negotiable. We sent him to Ireland. He was going to the gym as he was getting ready for the murder. Have you seen his arms? He's holidaying. He showed me his father and his family. You see, he sent me through a photo earlier of himself in a wet suit. He went something, yeah. Nice to do. Yeah, it looked, I mean, imagine basically Baywatch setting Eden Bridge. Yeah, and you're kind of getting close. He didn't know a danger from Sharp, so do you. Well, we've got lots of questions this week. We've got lots of questions. And the first question, which is probably going to be very little of a surprise, given that I've already massively signposted it in the first half, if I can find it and who it's from, which I can't understand. Oh, Chris, the beginning. All right, I wanted to give you some general nostalgia. This question is from Christopher Gillier. I don't know which bit, Christopher. I don't know which bit, Christopher. It could be like, it could be like, it could be like, it could be a friend of Tim's show. It's given this weekend's result, is the Norwich match must win or must not lose? For the answer to that. Well, no, you've not worked out the format here. You get a question asked, you answer the question, usually with some irreverent nonsense or some sort of factual-based answer. Or, this one's amazing. And he's just raising the question. Shall I answer the question? A friend of mine stumbled upon a Tinder, a ladies on Tinder. Right, stumbled on it. That's it. That's always my excuse, you're on it. I just stumbled, I don't know what happened. I fell over and suddenly I was on... That's right, right. And she said her tagline was, "My nickname is Gillette, because I'm the best a man can get. Also, I will cut you." I'm glad we went on that, it's actually now. No, that's the actual question. Is it a must not lose or is it a must win? It is a must not lose, because if we don't lose, we're pretty much safe. Norwich play Sunderland the game after us. So, ideally, we just mustn't lose that. Well, I think there's two things that let's not forget our home form before we get to make too many predictions about where it's a must win or a must not lose. To be honest, I'm not worried about Norwich. I'm more far more worried about it. Sunderland the new class one. Looking at the amount of points we're ahead of them. Pretty big result for Sunderland, not to beat West right at the weekend. It was a very dispiriting result for them as well, I think because they've got some really tricky games coming up, and I think West Brom would have been on a list of three games that they would hope to win. You'd rather Norwich beat Newcastle than Newcastle beat Norwich from start, because it's really difficult to see. And I know Newcastle got us to play in Villa, but it's really difficult to see Newcastle making up what is a 10-point gap with the goal difference between us. No, it just is difficult to see that based on the way they're playing. So, it's about getting points, getting us away from Newcastle and Sunderland. And to be honest, this type of last year, the last pod, I was saying, however we get them three points, it probably would be enough to keep us up. I'm happy to take that with two more draws, because West Brom was a bonus point, so as I'm concerned, I think it's difficult to not see us getting two more points somewhere or other, and I think Norwich, I don't think a draw against Norwich should be a bad result, given the little bit of momentum that they've got at Norwich will be coming into it. Probably thinking they can beat us, which is, I think, for the best, to be perfectly honest. So, a draw wouldn't be a disastrous result, and to be perfectly frank, a defeat wouldn't be a disastrous result, if Newcastle and Sunderland both lose. But, and in fact, I just said, I don't know if you heard Billich's post-match interview, I don't know if it's difficult to hear him, for the noise of very loud, modern music, which transpired to be coming from our address. Oh, Grandad. Well, you know, you can't hear the words, but you just can't make out the words, basically. Simple as that. Well, it's a track my song playing with everything. I'm surprised that even I'm a title. You're perfectly honest, but I can't remember. It was some... Was it crime? Was he playing you crime? Well, no resemblance to the lyrics of the song, I'll tell you that. But that was coming from our address, you know, but it does seem, I'm not, I don't want to attempt that yet, but it does seem as though, with that clear-the-air talk on Friday night, that they apparently had, the players are clearly pleased with themselves after that result, and certainly, and I think we'd go into the noise game in a bit more of a decision. But, I said, I'd probably take a drawn out, to be dead for the audience. The biggest concern for me would have been if we'd have had, if there'd have been a lack of spirit in this entire period. We've gone 14 games, and in each one, you couldn't say that the team have lost faith, or lost interest, or lost intent, they've always put in the effort, but it just hasn't worked out. Well, I think the difference is, and again, I've reluctant to say this out loud, and again, I'm only basing this, or watching long highlights over and over again, but we haven't, apart from the Aston Villa game, parts of the Leicester game, parts of the Baltimore game, we haven't been particularly bad, and we haven't lost. There has been that commitment in that spirit, but I think what we saw in the second half, and certainly with something we hadn't seen for a long time, was a little bit of the exuberance, coming back a little bit of the flare, a little bit of the front foot. To be fair, we didn't, even though we were the better team against Reading, we would never demonstrably the better team. We weren't full of flair and pace and spirit, nor were we against Tottenham in the Cup, but there were moments against West Hammersack, when it looked like there was a little bit of belief and exuberance coming back, and hopefully we can take that back in. But Norwich, I mean Norwich, we had the same bully, and Norwich would then have buried three games ago, and they've had a couple of... Sun-Kasundling, for example, for comparison, went off to beat. Yeah, that full-time whistle, you could hear bits and things like that. Oh, I thought he meant they went off drinking until, yeah. Oh, right, that too. I was going to say the way that they are, the way that that team's reputation goes. Speaking of... I've got some of them to play as well, which is... And we'll talk about Nigel in our extra bit, and a bit more depth, but that's obviously started that particular discussion off. Speaking of team spirit, I'm going to slightly paraphrase this, guys. Smell like team spirit. Be quiet. I'm going to... That's the last... That's the last... Look, on "I.J.D.", he's not here, but you don't have to do terrible puns or musical-based comedy. This isn't what it is this week. I'm going to talk to you about the youth, the older kids. Of 1991, but... Next question is... I don't know if it's married now. Behave yourselves. The next question is from Vasilu. Hi Vasilu. And I'm going to paraphrase this atompanybix that I wanted to go fully liveless, but how do we feel about the recent article, about players unrest, about the present wage structure at the club, which was, I believe, in the mirror, John Cross, I believe, wrote about it. How do we feel about that story? Go into any office environment and someone will be moaning about someone else's wages. That's the reality. It hasn't quite become the story that I think the journalist imagined it would do. It's been, on the inside, quite a fair way on the inside pages of most of the sports papers, but it hasn't really kicked off. Remember, Pardu talked very early in the season about... Breaking the structure to bring Kebai in, and how, if any of his players complain, he'd just say, "Well, he's a better player than you are." And I think we, let's be fair, you don't have to be an expert at reading between the lines. No, it's not players that are talking about. It's a player that they're talking about, in particular, who's been a recent addition to our squad, who's getting paid way much more. And I don't think, from what I can gather, I don't think there's been any genuine unrest about pay differentials, because they're not that huge between most of the players. Kebai is getting more than the most of the players, but the differential between most of the first things called isn't that huge. This is not something I know, it's something I'm assuming, I'm putting two and two together. It's pretty much to do with Adi by all. And I think it's a meeting that wouldn't have happened if we were seventh rates in the table. And I also think it was as much to do with that this mythical clearly, and meeting on Friday was as much to do with current form as it was to do with pay differentials. I don't think it's an issue. I think clearly, I think there is a certain amount of resentment that the amount of Adi by all was offered. But he's apparently half of that's being paid for by at the same time. We're paying 70 grand then pay for it. And I think that certainly we're paying a big chunk of it. So it's certainly not an issue that the, well, it's not affecting the way they play, it's impossible as that I don't think. I think if you're Dwight Gail, and you're complaining that Adi by all, who scored tens more goals than Gail has recently, I would argue that he doesn't really have a right to complain. Balassie, maybe, if that's the same, I think that's the other player that was mentioned. I think for me, they're both with the same agent, supposedly. So I think that people complaining about wages tends to happen. Gail, Balassie's just recently signed a new deal. You can't argue that he hasn't got value for money because he's now getting a Premier League wage for the kind of player that he is. Well, he was also getting it for 12 weeks when he wasn't playing football as well. So I don't think it's as much of an issue as the press of Tom, I make it. I think they're all all, it's the same way that Gabby had bombed the hall, if Villa were mid-table, they wouldn't have been the story about him smoking a car pipe. Due to the national rate, like there was in all the tabloids. A shisha? A shisha pipe, whatever it was. I don't know, because it's like, what are they supposed to do players? Are they supposed to sit at home in the curtains, drawn? It's like smoking a cigarette. Yeah, the journalists will always try and make these into issues. Speaking of issues being further down the table, which we haven't mentioned yet. So it was more of a thing to do with that form than... Yeah, you've been practicing this. Yeah, I've just had a lot of practices. This is how you're doing it. This is how you're doing it. I'm talking at work. No, it's far more abusive at work. Representing the criminal, I try not to work. Alleged, thank you very much. Next question's from Bristol Palace. I've Bristol Palace. Seeing as we're at the bottom six club, is Pargi the right manager for a scrap each season? I saw a lot of talk about... Does anyone got the tumbleweed? I saw a few people saying that Pargis should get sacked after the announcement of the line up. And I just think it's... That would be a terrible time to... But, I mean... People saw the line up and said, "How is it that bla bla bla bla bla?" He sent it forward. Shouldn't have happened. Okay, fair enough. But this is... You know, if you're... I just find it really difficult to weigh up this idea that... This kind of idea that the cup games, the cup wins that we've had just don't count. So they don't count. He didn't win those games, really. I mean, they're bonuses, but he didn't win those. We're in a semi-final. And a lot of the people that are saying Pargis shouldn't... Those wins shouldn't be counted on Pargis record, and that he should be sacked, are probably going to be... Going to Wembley as a result of his tactics that led us to actually winning the games that got us into the semi-final. I just think it's a little bit rich of people to complain in some... We are now in a position, though, aren't we? Now, where it's quite conceivable we could go to the end of the season without winning another league game. Which would mean that it is, I believe, if that eventuality does happen, it would be a record-breaking, winless streak for Palace. The question's not have to be asked if I manage it. But I would say that the only... The one game where I think we really looked completely and utterly outclassed was against Man City. And then that's it, really. I mean, pretty much every game that we've played in this awful run, we've had a decent chance of actually getting it. And you can blame luck, you can blame individual errors that have resulted us, and injuries that have resulted in us getting into this situation. A lack of squad depth. There are plenty of reasons why you can say the party isn't a blame. Equally, party has had a responsibility as the manager to make the changes necessary to try and get us out of this situation. And he didn't do it until the West Ham game, you know, until this game that we've just had. He didn't reverse... You know, I think that when you're in bad form, one of the best things you can do is go back to basics. And I think that, to some extent, Aston Villa, for example, brought in a manager who had big ideas and tried to change... You know, tried to implement this tactical approach to getting his side to play nice football, which was the worst thing you could do at that point because you've got players who are low on confidence. So what you need to do is go back to basics. And he's now done that. But I still think it's a bit rich of people to say that the party shouldn't be in a job where... I think... The Villa thing's an interesting point, because what Villa's had done is got Nigel Pearson in January, and the pair for going down, which is what they were going to do, whoever they got, whoever they got him. But that's a different... I think the party thing is really interesting, because until... New Year, or till January, February, whatever, had all the... Nobody was really talking about the lack of a plan B, because we were fifth in the table, and the party was going to be next in the manager, and no one questioned him, and no one was saying, "Are we lucky? Have we had a lot of injuries? Have we... The things gone our way?" I think the transfer window didn't help him, because I think there was an area of complacency, whether that was from the club or from him, but he clearly wasn't pushing to bring players in, even just as a way of telling the senior players that we were aware of the situation, we're going to bring somebody in short term to help you out. And Addie, by all, it turned out to be a mistake, and Pargy is very publicly associated with himself with that. I still don't want Pargy to be sacked, but I suspect, I think if we'd lost against Westam, then lost against Norwich, I think he would have been. I pretty much... Because I think the Americans, have muddied the water in that respect, because the Americans haven't invested in... A, they haven't invested in the championship team. B, I don't think they'd be patient enough to say, or I would keep him as manager. C, they've got the money to pay him off if they wanted to, and I generally, I think the performance on Saturday was indicated that he's clearly got the trust of the players. But I think if we'd lost against Westam and lost comprehensively, and then lost in the same way against Norwich, I think he probably would have gone. And I wouldn't have agreed with that, but it comes to stage when you have to say, "Well, there is a comedy nominator, and not winning in 16 games." And we've talked about this before. Any other club there would have been speculation on a daily basis. Every single manager in the country and abroad would have been linked with the job, and that simply hasn't happened. So I don't think they want to get rid of him, but there comes a time when you go, "Well, that loyalty, that patience, can't be the expense of us getting relegated." And the fact is, I do want him to be a manager, because I think what we need, desperately need a bit of stability, and I think the players still like him, but my worry is that, because he has got that sort of angle, I established. My worry is that he will say, "It was a blip in the second part of the season, we're fine, we don't need to spend money in the squad's all right." And we know that it isn't, and we know the home forms got to change. The other worry thing is that we're the second, we've conceded the second most amount of goals in the last 15 minutes of games in the Premier League, so that's clearly down to the manager and coaching as well. So there are issues that need to be addressed, and much as I say, I really want Paju to stay as manager. It does worry me that he is too stubborn to address the issues that are clear. Home form is another one. So I've got another big issue to address here, it's my firm, what's your... Do you want to say it? My mouth is sacking, it's what I'm saying. I have to give it... Oh yeah, it is, isn't it, isn't it? No, no, no. I want to hear more from Andy. What about what I think of Paju? Yeah. I mean, I think frankly there's been quite a lot of overreaction to the role of a manager generally, I think it's this... Why bother? Why bother with a manager? Yes. Well, I mean, frankly, football clubs are, to a certain extent, the function of their players, and managers can have a sort of little impact around the edges, and certainly they have a big impact if they lose the faith of their dressing room entirely, and if those players absolutely decide they do not want to play for a manager at that point, you know, that particular guy's role becomes untended when he has to be sacked. Ultimately, though, I mean, football clubs and teams end up being subject to so many other extraneous factors, like referees, like rubs of luck, and like certain things going wrong against the grain, and Palace have been on a pretty awful run of all three things. But equally, there have been certain times where Paju hasn't mitigated against the potential impact of some of those things. He's not ever gone slightly more defensive. He's been slightly cavalier at times. He, against Liverpool when we were playing 10 men, had no plan being that particular game. He's been at times unable to change certain things in games. So there are certain question marks that I think he does need to take a long hard look at himself about, and there are certain things that I think the club will need to be really mindful of in the summer in terms of when they're rebuilding the score, because half the problem we've had, and it's another area in which we've been lucky, has been with injuries. And if it takes three injuries to put your entire game plan out of the water, which is effectively what it's been this season, it's been MacArthur going out for a prolonged period, punching being out for a relatively prolonged period, and wicking being in and out of the team. And that's you. But well, velocity as well, but goodbye. But I mean, if it takes, you know, at any one time, it's generally been three out of those five out. If it takes you getting three players out of your team at any one time, and you can't ever patch up, and you can't ever find some sort of compromise alternative, then you're going to have problems frankly, because you can't rely on having the sort of Leicester approach where players are going to be fit every single week. Well, the thing with the lot, I disagree with you slightly about the managers role, because I think English football is different, certainly to the other country in Europe, in that there isn't a structure at most English football clubs. There isn't a director of football. There isn't a whole coaching hierarchy. There's the manager of some coaches, and I think the manager's mood sways the players greatly. You know, I listen to professional players at pundits every week saying, "No, no, we're a professional. We're going to play to the limit of our ability." It doesn't matter who the manager is. That's simply not true. You only have to look at Villa to see that. And it's the fact is that you talk about something like Pearson going into Villa. Those players will have given a damn-sized war effort when they gave to Remy Garbs. They didn't respect him when he came in, and they lost any respect that they did have as the time wore. And if an alanite had gone in there or Steve Bruce, he wouldn't have stood for that sort of behavior. So the mood of the manager, and I think one of the part of his problems is that he's feast or family. He's so volatile. He's either the cheeriest bloke in the planet, in which case the club, everybody at the club's got a spring in their step. Well, he's really touchy. As he has been with his program notes against Leicester, some of his post-match interviews. And I think, pardon you, such an alpha male, that his mood does rub off on the players, not to the extent that they've given up playing from it, clearly had him. But there are issues with him as a manager. Simple as that. But I still think he's a very good manager. He was a brilliant manager when he got us to fifth. You remember our record in the arguments we had about the calendar year? We were the second-best team in the country in the calendar year over the end of the season, the start of this season. And it's slightly frustrating that those of us who are fans of his can't point to things and can't say, "Well, no, he's a good manager." Because he's not particularly proving that at the moment. Very, very, very briefly. I think that the thing that is frustrating is that after every single FA Cup win that we've had, the resulting performance in the league, which in most cases have been winnable fixtures, we haven't performed to the same standard against, after the Spurs game, I think, we played, was it Bournemouth? There were, it seems to have been a trend. Essentially, we win the FA Cup tie the next game we lose. And it's just been, I think, it's taken something out of it. It took something out of our sales to some extent. But got a far more important question now. Mr Stesser. Hello, Mr Stesser. There we go. Hello. If throwing up in my mother-in-law's salad bowl was lucky enough for a draw on Saturday, what do I need to do for a win? I do want Anna, what does your mother-in-law look like? I mean, there seems to be such a series of questions behind that that I've really intrigued tonight. Yeah. I mean, I just want to point out that we've done just about everything that Kevin's asked us to. We've changed the music back one way, we've changed it back another. We've walked backwards and forwards since. Can I, Mr Stesser, did you throw up in the salad bowl while your mother-in-law was eating a salad? I mean, because that's a, I think, we have to know. See, it's an indication of how classy two of the people on this podcast are this week, is that nobody's raised an eyebrow at the fact that somebody's mother-in-law's got a salad bowl. Because of endicals, we'd be explaining to what a salad bowl is. And it probably demonstrates what we're like, that we didn't raise an eye as someone throwing up in a bowl, or some sort of salad bowl. Well, you got off, it didn't throw up on the floor, that's nice. Well, yeah, there we go. Very, very classy. Yes, and of course, it's a, yeah, as we know, every pallet I've figured, it's their superstition. But yeah, I don't know if throwing up in a, I'd possibly know it's too early in the end. Try it again, as you are. Yeah, yeah. Okay, we're going to end on a slightly nicer night, because I've got an email here. We don't often get lengthy emails, but it's quite a nice one. From his mother-in-law. It's not from his mother-in-law. He's just been throwing up in a salad bowl. It's from a salad bowl company. There's not so many questions. I can't answer to one of them. Oh, did you? Yeah, you had enough of that four questions. Oh, Andrew. Well, which question did you want to answer? Which three players should we let go? Oh, well, which three players should we let go? Well, you put them in the spot now. Three, that's interesting. I've written 13 players down here. I mean, that's quite a lot to let go, isn't it? I think, Jednack. Which would you keep, I think, is it easier? Jednack, Fraser Campbell, and then one of the goalkeepers, possibly Hennessy. The players we want to get rid of, we would struggle to get rid of, because no one wants them for the same reasons that we want to get rid of the hypothesis. That question's from James Fountain, by the way. Hi, James. Hi, James. These are hypothetical questions, Mike. It's like being turned down by a girl in your fantasies. It doesn't happen. So we don't have to worry about where they're going. We can just get rid of them. Right, another question from James. Yeah. Another question from James. I want a one word answer, or possibly a two word answer, if you feel it's necessary. What position do you think needs strengthening the most in the summer? Kevin. Can't be a one word answer. It's just one word. Well, then you're not keeping them with the criteria. Both fullbacks, creative. You've got a big one. So, defense midfield attack. No, no, no, because that's an area. I want one position. Now, one position. If it's we desperately need a truly creative midfield player. There we go. Right. That's enough, Mike. That was not two words, was it? Well, creative midfielder. Creative midfielder. I'm taking that like a number 10 type letter, which is fine, which is still two words. Well, yeah. I did say two. Center back. Okay. Interesting. Rob. Cool keeper. Oh, and I think conceivably all of those could be the correct answer. And it's great. It was an easier question, is which? All of the above. Which, velocities are hard. Cabay, McArthur. Punching. Punching. Both centerbacks are the only ones you'd say. Wicom. Wicom. Yeah, good point. But we need, we need cover at fullback at the very least. And it's centerback at the very least. We need, I think McArthur and Cabay is a really, really good first choice midfield pairing. But we need two or three people to come in if they're not available. It needs to be, we need goals. It improves them across the board. Yeah, we really need to step up next season. Now home, and there needs to be a change in attitude at home as well, basically. The difficulty is, has been discussed to death, the FFP thing or whatever it's called. We're in a three-year cycle where we can only increase our wage bill by a certain amount. And the reason we're in that position is because we've signed a bunch of Campbells, Mariapas, Lees, muchs. But we had to sign those in order to get where we are today. There's so many people who've known about how poor we've been in the Toronto market. But one, every team makes mistakes, doesn't get it right. I'd say our hit rate, certainly in the parish era, has been better than most. There've been a few off ones recently that happen there. Yeah, the likes of Bamford, the likes of Sarco, he's been a bit famous. Most list of fans in the summer weren't going out to celebrate the arrival of Countier Maris. Well, there's a sign of a Grammarich last year. He scored 18 goals last season in the championship and he's still struggling to get a place in the Norwich team. So, it's less than some poor players as well. Ballmer for the classic example, they went out in January and could spend loads of money because they had a huge amount of wage that they could eat up. We couldn't. Next year we'll be able to. And if we're in the same position next year, in 12 months from now, for those who didn't understand the content the next year, then we'd ask them two questions about our overall agreement strategy. But I think it's a fair metagame circle stance. I mean, less the signed Gocann in England and he's been kept out of the team by Danny Drinkwater. Well, Danny Drinkwater's been one of the players of the season in Premier League. So, there we go. Right, we're going to go on to this email now because we've had that little good distraction there. So, it's from Meghan, who's a big FIP fan. I don't like it when things don't run by the agenda. Anyhow, on Good Friday, my partner Martin at the Shepherds dog on Twitter and I got married. That's Meghan, by the way, not me. Just got married at the Shepherds dog. No, be quiet. He is an excellent and lifelong Palace fan. And when we met, converted me as well, despite me being born and raised in Australia and knowing almost literally nothing about football at the time, so she'd have a lot in common with Jamesy. We still travel back to London as often as we can to visit his mum. Well, I'm fairly certain she's in some way just the convenient excuse for us to watch a lot of live football. When we're not there, we're up until 4am every weekend to watch Alice Play. Oh, 4am? I can't even say one nice in-sear email. And, of course, we listen to your pod every week. Oh, isn't that nice? And just ordered our FIP t-shirts the other day. Postage to Australia will not be cheap. His vows to me on Friday began. I remember the first time I went to Seoul as park and ended with, "You are the yo hanker by it to my James McConf." Which is lovely isn't it? The last song of the night was, of course, glad all over. With our somewhat confused friends and family, joining in with a lot of foot stamping, clapping and hand-raising. I think he even posted a short video of it on Twitter. The point of this long-winded email is basically to say that he is wonderful and I'm the luckiest person in the world this week to become his wife. I was hoping you could give a bit of a shout-out to me. That's all, keep up the great work. So there we go. I thought that was a nice one. And that's from Meghan in Australia. I'm welling up. And what's happened to me again? I mean, I was disgusted, frankly, that she didn't put Stuart O'Keefe to my KG. But, you know, there was improvements we can make on. I keep scoreder at the weekend, by the way. I'm winder for carding. Wonderful. You all think I'm a hard-bitten self-under worker. I'm very sentimental when it comes to romance and love. So he's giving Andy the love eyes. I always give Andy the love eyes. It's a lovely story. That's very nice. I think we wish them all the happiness in the world. Indeed. Congratulations. And thanks for listening and continue listening. Yeah, I look coming up. And they will continue listening in part three when we do in this week. For which J.D. has actually finally sent the right week. So we've not been stuck with, like, you know, the second of the May, like he sent two. And then, yeah, yeah. Jot of ones before. Yeah. So you join us then when we go back in time. They were a romantic way. I hope they're listening to us in bed. At 48 and 48 in the morning. Where's the question? Join us in the next part. Hello, and welcome back to the five-year plan podcast. Three! On three of Pod175, we're sponsored as ever by Vector, the printing embroidery company. Visit www.vector.co.uk and that's Vector with us. Okay. Thank you. And we're also sponsored by JC Innovation and Strategy, the global innovation and strategy consultancy from south London. Visit JC-IS.com. I will. Okay, we're also sponsored by Australian romance. We are sponsored by Australian romance. It's really hard to eat. It has. It's, um, I can't stop then on about it. It's a lovely story. It is a lovely story. And it's nice that she's able to express it publicly as well. Yeah. Yeah, I would as if he tried to do that, his mates would take the piss off. Oh, that's why I used to do that. She's listening. Did she listen? Well, I, Wiggy, tell me. Funny. I'm not the one who lives for there. It's been trainable. She's upstairs, I'll go and check. Right, in this week, let's go back in time. You've had a sit, just about from your six-week honeymoon. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I don't want to know. Right, we're going back in time. We're going back in time, uh, this week. This week in April, back in time. Crystal Palace and Brighton, Hove Albion, met for the first time in the top flight in April 1980. Who do we think put the seagulls in front in 1980? It would have been Peter Ward. It was Peter Ward. Yeah. But guess who got Palace back into it? Whoa. 1980, I would have been that. It's not going to be Jerry Murphy, is it? He would have been dates with us. No, neither of those. Oh, these are those. I wasn't even born then. I wasn't even born then, I wasn't even born then, I wasn't even born then. Rashid, how are you going to fuck off? I'm not as old as Kevin. So you sound it, though? People like that. People like, oh, listen. Peter Simpson. I'm glad you mentioned Peter Simpson. I just got to say, people like them would go in. You know, it really sounds 68 that bloke. I wasn't even born then. It was Jim Cannon. Was it? Who helped to rescue a point that day? In slightly less happy circumstances day, um, same Monday, the 5th, 1999, bad time, bad time palace, threat and strike action amongst the players on paid wages. Yeah. Lost to Sunderland, who were on their way to record 105 points. Who scored for Sunderland that day that then went on to become a little bit of a Crystal Palace cop here up. Kevin Phillips, indeed. Was that when Kevin Miller refused to play because he hadn't been paid his wages in 1999? It would have been, wouldn't it? Yeah. Yeah. I remember seeing him as, he lived in, in or around Limpsfield. Yeah. And I remember seeing him like two days afterwards. Driving your prep. Driving to Limpsfield. 1999, he was driving from Limpsfield. Well, Popfield stayed at the prams a lot longer than we did. He was driving from Limpsfield, tennis club, in his Aston Martin. There's no part of that story that is not middle class. No, I just, I was in Limpsfield leaving the tennis club. And he left in his unbelievable. And I just thought, how is he? You just thought, what a shit car he's got for Limpsfield. How do you do? I wouldn't have to go outside. Should have to go outside from Kevin Miller. Did you? Yeah, he wasn't complaining about his wages then. Well, there we go. Wait for the four to give his gloves away then. Yeah, exactly. Well, 6th of April 1940, Palace recorded that probably was Peter Simpson. I don't know because it doesn't say in the book. Palace recorded their biggest ever competitive victory when they hammered who 10-0. Oh, was it nice for you? What does it begin with, the team? Kevin Miller, no, he was there. How was it? Oh, that's unnecessary. Sorry, Kevin. What was it? It was only Brighton, wasn't it? Was it? Yeah? 10-0. Yeah, in a division D game. Yeah, it was a wartime league game, wasn't it? 7th of April 2001. Which winger plundered a dramatic eight? I've not finished it yet. Come on. Which winger, in 2001 remember, plundered a dramatic 88-minute goal to give Palace a 2-2 drawer. It's not Rubens. It's not Rubens. I've just said it's not Rubens. Against playoff chasing Watford. Oh, is it Tommy Black? It was Tommy Black. Dean Austin had put Palace ahead in the 14th minute from the penalty spot. After Ricardo Fuller had been upended by a whole one, it skipped. I thought Ricardo Fuller would only play one game for Palace. Do you remember that? That was the one where he hit the radio. He hit the radio. Yeah, it was brilliant. Yeah. What? Yeah. He did a radio. Could go Watford play his head. Oh, I don't recall this at all. I'm very sure it didn't happen. It was cool for Watford. Didn't say it. Oh, who cares? It doesn't really matter, does it? Get any rule vote. Sunday 8th of April. 1990. I think we should all know this one. Peter Simpson. Peter, stop saying Peter Simpson. Yeah, 4-3. It was indeed. It was the Villa Cup semi-final. Most pundits have written off Palace's chance against Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final. Who's called the winner? Peter Simpson. Peter Simpson. Peter Simpson. Alan Pargy indeed. Yeah. And now back in another Cup semi-final. Biding memories. The Army dog display at half-time. Which we also let you may recall half-time. They put, this is how things were in those days. They put a dog assault course up on the pitch at half-time. And that was the same final. Yeah, yeah. With two out-stations. I think it was the RAF, RAF sort of security. And they had two out-stations, one in the red beard, one that Liverpool fans were encouraged to cheer the red dog who got around his sort of course in record time. And the Palace dog fell off the beam. Literally got an out-of-the-hole. Palace, yeah. That was Gillian. He said that was Gillian Endicott's first game. It was, I believe. I might have just made that up. No, that's what we call James. That is a glory hunter, isn't it? Yeah, it is first game semi-final. Yeah, that is. It might be that. We're going to get her now with loyalty points, which actually has been to quite a few games since, though, to be fair. Now, seasons are going older and regular in the main stands. So, I think we'll have... She's going to this semi-final. Yes, she is. I believe she is going to this semi-final. Indeed. I like this next story. It's a slightly lengthy one. But there could be nothing that would put in my Palace more around this whole era, or kind of a dull falling off a beam during the semi-final. Well, what's a dog falling off a beam got to do with Palace? That's a cruff. That's just, oh, that's true. Saturday the 11th of April, 1998. Oh, you've lost it now. Ah, we beat Derby, 3-1. In... No, no, we didn't. We lost a Leicester 3-0, but in the programme for the premiership game with Leicester City, Ron Nodes reflected on the fact that the Eagles constantly being linked with the likes of Paul Gascoigne, Allie McCoist, John Barnes and Andy Gorham had been unsettling the staff and players. Nodes also pointed out that the recommendation at the Tileo Lombardo's recent appointment as manager had come from Steve Copple himself. The game itself saw Lombardo's men lose 3-0 tomorrow, and O'Neil's mob, Emile Hasky. Emile Hasky. Emile Hasky, yeah. Banging a brace before Emile added the third. Yeah, so that was pretty dark era, wasn't it? Well, it went on to be champions 20 years later, Leicester City, a good team. Well, I believe that was where it all started, where Patriceia Billy I played and didn't do particularly well. That was a dark era. Can you hear any other dog football puns? Any other dog football puns? Well, you call him Emile Hasky. Blackbone roses? I'd like it. Did he a dog butt? That's what... Can you tell the clots and coolies, dog? He did. Did he a dog butt and got into trouble for it? He did. Which I thought was a little bit hard for him. It was a cool, correct? Well, he was a man. He accepted the thing he does most about it, so he called in that because it was black. Oh, now he'll have to cut that on there. Well, he does. Oh, okay. That's why he got called into the BBC to say, "Can you not call your dog something else?" So he called it Isis. Now, that was a dog he'd down. I had to be put down. Well, nothing else happened in that week. Over the last 35 years. 35 years, yeah. Nothing else has happened. Lots of FA cups, every finals. And we've got another one to look forward to before too long. Yeah. But we've also got a game against Norwich to look forward to. But that will come in the extra part of this. So this is the end move pod 175. Thank you very much for joining me, Kevin and Mike and Rob. Thank you. Thank you. And join us again for the extra when we can talk about Norwich and all the upcoming games then. So join us again. I will dole punch. I get a little obsessive about supporting my local community. I buy local produce, a local toothpaste. Yeah, trampolines, artisanal cat toys. I'm just a local gal. That's why I was so excited to learn that banking with a local community bank supports local businesses every day. I can finally stop thinking about it. So I'm celebrating with a staycation and some local peanut brittle. Yum. Bank with a community bank and help your community grow. Find yours at banklocally.org. This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. [BLANK_AUDIO]
Palace continue to edge towards the safety line with another point, this time at Upton Park against an in form Hammers side. Andy hosts this week and is joined by Kevin, Rob and Mike Wicks to discuss the excellent result away at West Ham, your questions and a dog display team, and much, much more. So join us for just over an hour of Palace chat.
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