It’s almost impossible to do match reports if you don’t go to the games. I’m sure it has been done but you won’t find any of that on this blog. No sir!

Nevertheless, you don’t need to be a washed up hack to know that Victor Moses goal was a glorious strike and his good work for Darren Ambrose’s record equaling goal (no Palace player has scored in six consecutive league matches since Ian Wright in 1989) demonstrates that Neil Warnock was right to start Moses instead of Freddie Sears.

“I asked Victor before the game to go out and win it for us – and that is the first one he’s won for us this season.” he said after the game. “I asked him to do his tricks like he does in training and he was positive.”

But Warnock’s next statement suggests that young Victor may not be with us for long:

“He should be in the Premier League and he’ll find it easier there because he’ll get more time and space and he has such ability over the first five yards. He’ll set it on fire when he gets there. He’s got a great future.”

Speculation abounds that Simon Jordan is planning a New Year sale and that our brightest youngsters may be on the way.  Warnock has denied this but by saying that Moses is ready for the step up could be interpreted as he’s on the market and interested buyers should contact the club via the usual numbers.

Or it may be a perfectly innocent remark. It’s just that whenever I hear a lower division manager suggesting that one of his players should be playing at a higher level, it’s often the equivalent of a for sale sign drooped around the lad’s shoulders.

Anyhoo, we’ll know more in the New Year. For the moment however, thoughts turn to the FA Cup Third Round Draw which is always a highlight of the season. It goes without saying that a home draw aganst one of the Big Four will not happen. It’ll be something like Macclesfield away. The sort of tie that neither side would want.

Coventry City 1-1 Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace’s players and fans were left frustrated by a 1-1 draw against out of form Coventry City at the Ricoh Arena, with the Eagles failing to make the most of a first-half dominance which should have seen more goals.

An all-too-familiar tale of missed chances hit Palace again, with the club’s strikers once more being shown up by Charlton reject and instant Palace hero Darren Ambrose, who scored midway through the first half. It was the midfielder’s 9th goal in 17 games for the club.

Despite having a number of additional chances before half-time, Palace struggled to deal with Coventry’s more purposeful approach to the second half and quickly allowed the Sky Blues back into the game, with former Southampton striker Leon Best nipping in and equalise.

Neil Warnock felt that Coventry would not have been as motivated had his players put them to the sword a little more.

He told the BBC: ”"If we had gone in 2-0 up I don’t think they would have come back from that.

“”I am pleased with a point. I felt we should have had a penalty in the first half.”

Palace have a visit from Watford to look forward to next weekend.

Leicester City 2:0 Crystal Palace

A storming second half performance from substitute Paul Gallagher earned City a 2-0 win over palace at Filbert Way on Tuesday night…

Nigel Pearson made two changes to his side, with fullbacks Morrison and Berner replaced by Neilson and debutante McGivern.
The first half saw virtually nothing of note, with midfield pinball, frequent offside flags and neither keeper breaking sweat. 
N’Diaye went close with a near post header for the Eagles, but that was about it. 
But the second half, which saw Gallagher on for Dyer, was an immediate improvement. Gallagher woke the crowd up volleying a Fryatt cross goalwards, but Speroni saved.
Then Fryatt had an effort blocked and Wellens fired a shot over from a decent position.
The lively Gallagher was then tripped in the area by Carle for an obvious penalty in the 59th minute. Fryatt’s spot kick was saved by Speroni but who else but Gallagher was on hand to slot home the rebound for his first goal in a City shirt.
Waghorn was then brought on for Howard who appeared to be in some sort of raging fit as he came off the field.
Campbell also came on for Fryatt and immediately had a golden chance to seal the game but shot straight at the keeper when clear through on goal.
Instead it was Gallagher who extended City’s lead, catching Speroni off his line with a brilliant 30 yard lob to seal the three points and complete a night of personal triumph. 

Leicester: Weale, Brown, Hobbs, Neilson, McGivern, King, Dyer (Gallagher 46), Oakley, Wellens, Fryatt (Campbell 78), Howard (Waghorn 64). Subs Not Used: Logan, N’Guessan, Kermorgant, Morrison.
Palace: Speroni, Hill, McCarthy, Butterfield, Fonte, Carle (Ambrose 71), Derry, Danns, Sears, N’Diaye (Davis 78), Lee (John 71). Subs Not Used: Ertl, Scannell, Clyne, Flahavan.

Referee: R East (Wiltshire). Attendance: 22,220.

Crystal Palace 0-0 Sheffield Wednesday

Crystal Palace followed up the six points gained over the previous two weeks with just a single point on Tuesday night, following a bore draw with Sheffield Wednesday.

Paddy Mack didn't have the nack to help Palace nick the three points.

Following the somewhat-astounding 1-0 defeat of West Brom at the weekend, Palace fans were perhaps slightly mistaken to think that we would win a third game on the trot, although it could all have been very different had Palace converted their early chances.

Paddy McCarthy, Darren Ambrose and Alan Lee all went close in the first half, and that was pretty much where the action ended. Palace have now gone months without scoring in the first half of a league game – a statistic that manager Neil Warnock is well aware of.

“We had some good chances but we snatched at everything, we just don’t like scoring in the first half,” Warnock told the BBC.

“We could not put our chances away, it’s as simple as that. But we’ve got seven points from three games and all credit to the lads for that.”

Palace now face a visit from Blackpool at the weekend, a game that has been designated Scarf Day by the Be Loud, Be Proud, Be Palace fan initiative.

Palace 1-0 Derby County

By Robert Sutherland

Crystal Palace overcame the disappointment of last weekend’s defeat with a hard-fought win against Derby County at Selhurst Park on Saturday.

Palace’s squad featured a number of changes, with Alassane N’Diaye dropped for Johannes Ertl, Paddy McCarthy returning to the side in place of transfer-listed Matt Lawrence, and Sean Scannell featuring in place of Victor Moses.

And it was Johannes Ertl who made his rare appearance in the squad count, with an impressive performance from the Austrian drawing the plaudits. Palace also have goalkeeper Julian Speroni to thank for two fantastic saves – although he might not have been so lucky had the referee been a little more stringent.

Speroni could have received a red card when he picked up ball outside of the penalty area – but referee Michael Oliver only gave him a yellow card. It was a decision that Palace were richly rewarded by when the Argentinian made the two crucial match-winning saves.

Palace took the lead in the 55th minute, when Darren Ambrose drove a shot into the Derby net following a header from Sean Scannell. They might have taken a two-goal lead when Ertl thundered a header against Derby County’s bar.

The Eagles did well to deal with the physicality of Derby’s side, with Rob Hulse being the lead protagonist in aggression. Jose Fonte was lucky not to suffer a broken jaw following one of his many clashes with the bustling forward.

Manager Neil Warnock was delighted with how his players fought for the win. He told the BBC: “We gave absolutely everything and I’m proud as punch of my boys and I hope they get the headlines they deserve.”

While Palace will be pleased with the win, there are still a number of concerns about yesterday. Palace have gone 17 games without scoring in the first half of a match, while Palace’s dramatically falling attendance will also concern the club. With just 12,753 in attendance yesterday (a figure which includes season-tickets no matter whether the holder is at the match), Palace will have to find a way to get more fans into the stands.

The Eagles now face a trip to five-goal-scoring West Brom next Saturday, and then a home fixture against Sheffield Wednesday.

By Robert Sutherland

Crystal Palace have had a further transfer embargo placed on them by the Football League, the South London Press has revealed.

Palace, who just weeks ago announced that the embargo had been lifted, will not be able to make any loan signings until the ban on signings is lifted once more.

With the club’s financial concerns becoming increasingly apparent, Neil Warnock is putting a brave face on what must be a frustrating situation.

He told the South London Press: “I’m aware of the situation and we will get around it…I’m sure it will be lifted in the next couple of weeks.”

By Robert Sutherland

Young striker Victor Moses almost signed for for Premier League side Everton, the Croydon Advertiser revealed this week.

Manager Neil Warnock told his weekly press conference that Palace had been in negotiations with the Toffees, but that a deal couldn’t be reached before the transfer window closed.

He said: “”I spoke to three or four Premier League clubs about Victor on Tuesday.”

“What I think will happen now is that they look at him and make a decision on him by Christmas.”

Meanwhile, Palace confirmed that defender Claude Davis had signed for the club on a free transfer from Derby County.

By Robert Sutherland

It’s been a busy week on the rumour-front at Palace, with a number of signings muted and a few transfers ruled out.

Palace’s long-term target Craig Beattie has signed for Swansea City on a three-year contract, ruling out a loan-move to the Eagles. Beattie cost the Swans £800,000; a value that Palace were unlikely to match considering the club’s financial uncertainty. (Swansea City’s Official Site)

Meanwhile, Danny Webber – another player that the club have been linked with for a number of seasons – is likely to sign for Middlesbrough. It had been thought that the former Manchester United trainee would sign for Palace once the transfer embargo was lifted, but it looks like he is now set on a move to the North East. (Sky Sports)

Neil Warnock has also been linked with Ipswich Town striker Jon Stead, who has once again fallen out of favour with manager Roy Keane. Stead is expected to sign on loan should the player fail to secure a permanent move away from the Suffolk club. He has however also been linked with Doncaster Rovers. (Mirror)

Palace should by now know whether Jamaican international Claude Davis has been granted a work permit, with the hearing apparently taking place yesterday. Warnock told the News Shopper, “We would like to get Claude Davies ready and I think we’ve got a hearing on Friday about his work permit, so that couldn’t come at a better time.” (News Shopper)

The News Shopper also reports that Palace have been linked with Hameur Bouazza and Marcus Bent, although Warnock apparently laughed off any such suggestion. Warnock did however suggest that he had a few irons in the fire.

A player unlikely to leave before the transfer window closes is Alan Lee, who it seems has won a stay of execution with his recently improved performances. While Lee didn’t feature against Manchester City on Thursday, Warnock stated that the player missed out because he was being rested.

Crystal Palace face big-spending Manchester City in the League Cup tonight, with the focus firmly on City’s ridiculously over-priced squad. If one were to just listen to mainstream media previews, then they would get the impression that Manchester City will win, it’s just a matter of how many they’ll score.

But those who predict scores do so forgetting one thing. Palace have a tendency for surprise results. We may not have a squad worth £170m, but we certainly know how to make things difficult for teams. Especially those coming to Selhurst Park.

Football is an incredible sport that can sometimes see the most surprising upsets. While form, ability and value are always taken into account, it’s not linear – you can’t predict the score and be right 100% of the time, every time.

Palace are hopefully going to be the percentage that destroys accumulators – we have a talented squad that, while it might not be a Billionaire’s plaything, knows how to play and sometimes even wins games.

Sometimes, just sometimes, the passion and desire to win a match can completely outweigh the quality of the opposition. Here’s hoping that tonight will be that night.

And even if we do lose, it’ll be a pleasure to see how some of Palace’s youngsters deal with the likes of Robinho, Tevez and co.

For the likes of Victor Moses, Alassane N’Diaye, Sean Scannell and Nathaniel Clyne, the opportunity to pit their wits against doesn’t come every day – I have little doubt that they will impress.

EEEEAGLES!!!

By Robert Sutherland

Crystal Palace manager Neil Warnock has reportedly sent out a memo offering seven of Palace’s finest youngsters out on loan, with the aim of giving them some much-needed first-team experience.

The list includes recent recruit Matthew Wright, as well as James Comley, Kieron Cadogan and Kieran Djilali – all of whom featured for Palace towards the end of last season.

Palace are hopeful that those who are sent out on loan use the opportunity to impress. Loan moves haven’t been entirely successful for Palace in recent years, with players returning either injured or failing to impress on loan.

However, with the majority of those offered in the memo highly rated by Palace’s coaching staff, there is little doubt that they will all do well.

By James Daly

Palace fans can expect a week of spurrilous rumours as the transfer embargo that was haning over the club has been lifted.

Manager Neil Warnock now has seven days to try and bring in some much needed fresh faces before the transfer window is firmly shut on Tuseday 31st.

The embargo had been placed after Palace had failed to pay bonuses to players, but that has now been settled meaning the club is free to make new signings.

Warnock told the South London Press: “The embargo has been lifted so I’m trying hard to bring in one or two new faces.”

Defender Claude Davies and Millwall winger Ryan Smith are expected to sign imminently.

But what the team needs is a goalscoring striker, someone who can put the ball in the net nine times out of ten. Or ten times would be nice. FYP, Clinton is banging them in for Coventry. Just saying…

Palace 0 Newcastle 2

By James Daly

In the battle of the buildings Palace came off worse against Newcastle, suffering a 2-0 defeat.

Kevin Nolan slotted home after just three minutes, Jonas Gutierez slicing open the home defence with a cheeky chip to the back post for the former Bolton midfilder to slide into the net. The Palace defence as one seemed to get drawn to the Argentine which left Nolan with more room than a hotel suite to finish his chance.

Palace responded well, however, and between them Alan Lee and Darren Ambrose carved out most of the Eagles’ chances, Lee heading just wide and Ambrose forcing Steve Harper into a decent save down low to his right.

The game was put further out of Palace’s reach when Ryan Taylor continued his form of only scoring belters, with a 25-year looper into Speroni’s top right hand corner. No chance.

Credit is due to the home side for their determination to get back into the game, but with a cutting edge that appeared more blunt than sharp, goals looked some way off.

Neil Warnock’s side couldn’t be faulted for determination and guile, but with the absence of a natural goalscorer, goals could be few and far between this season.

FYI, Clinton Morrison has been banging in the goals for Coventry this season. Just putting that out there.

Photo courtesy Paul McIlroy (via Wikimedia Commons)

A quick round-up of the weekend that was in the Coca-Cola Football League:

Championship: Dave from Newcastle of Special 1 TV fame will have been dancing in the streets along the River Tyne this last weekend following the Magpies’ 3-0 win over Reading at St. James’ Park on Saturday.  The Royals’ trip to Newcastle was the highest-profile fixture the Championship division had to offer over the weekend, but the match certainly didn’t live up to expectations, with puppet Dave’s mancrush Shola Ameobi fired in a hat trick to put Newcastle into what you have to say is an up to now well-earned third spot in the table.

Elsewhere, Leicester City continued their impressive start to the season, earning a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Roy Keane’s Ipswich Town at Portman Road, but many will view Neil Warnock as having provided us with the division’s biggest story of the weekend.  Freddie Sears appeared to score a perfectly good goal for Crystal Palace away to Bristol City on Saturday, with the ball entering the back of the net crossed before bouncing out, but referee Rob Shoebridge failed to acknowledge the goal, leaving Warnock absolutely furious, as seen in the highlights (uploaded by YouTube member Owlsince1988):

As Palace eventually lost 1-0 in a match that, it has since been announced, will not be replayed, Warnock was borderline apoplectic with reporters following the match, and rightfully so.  Certainly the Yorkshireman has had a history of being overly critical of officials, but he had good cause on this occassion, even though he also criticised Bristol City for being unsporting, as the Robins did nothing to help Palace’s case.  Warnock even called for the Robins to have put the ball into their own net to make up for the injustice, but for me, I don’t think Neil would have done that if he were wearing a City shirt and had the ball at his feet.

Notable results elsewhere in the Championship included Middlesborough finally hitting form in a 3-0 win away to Swansea City, Scunthorpe United defeating Derby County 3-2 at Glanford Park, and Coventry City topping the table after earning a 2-0 win away to Barsnley.

League One: Despite the early sacking of Bryan Gunn after just two matches this season, Norwich City earned a 1-1 draw away to Exeter City.  With the aftermath from the Canaries 7-1 home loss to Colchester United to start the season out of the way, the Carrow Road outfit now begins a search for a new manager, with high profile targets such as Gordon Strachan linked.  Until a new manager is named, Ian Butterworth has taken on a caretaker role,  and the assistant under Gunn may have already brought a bit of stability back to the club after nicking a point from the Grecians on the road.

Elsewhere, Huddersfield Town made its case at the weekend to become a solid promotion candidate, with the Terriers continuing their undefeated start to the season with 3-1 home victory over Southampton at Galpharm Stadium.  Man of the match Jordan Rhodes looked in fine form for the home side, grabbing two of the goals and making himself look a good bit of business after the West Yorkshire club signed him from Ipswich over the summer for an undisclosed fee.

In Wiltshire, play was stopped for 15 minutes during Swindon Town’s home clash with MK Dons after the Don’s Mathias Kouo-Doumbé collided with captain Dean Lewington, while in Birkenhead, first-year manager and Liverpool legend John Barnes gained his first victory as Tranmere Rovers manager in a 4-2 win over Gillingham at Prenton Park. His Tranmere side gained an impressive 4-2 victory vs Gillingham one of the teams of week one. The match was closer than the scoreline suggests, though, as it was a match of true end-to-end quality, and Ian Thomas Moore being in fine form having opened and finished the scoring to send the fans on the Wirral home happy.

Other League One action of note last weekend came in the form of Charlton Athletic’s 2-0 dispatch of hosts Hartlepool United, and Colchester’s 2-1 win home over Yeovil Town, thereby keeping the Essex outfit at the top of the table.

League Two: Football League new comer Burton Albion gained its first-ever league win with a 5-2 home triumph over Morecambe at the Pirelli Stadium.  The Brewers’ Canadian manager Paul Peschislodo will certainly have been delighted with his side’s performance, with Greg Pearson opened the scoring for the hosts to give them their first goal at home in the Football League.

Topping the table early on, though, are new-money Notts County, with the Magpies recording a second consecutive blowout victory, this time a 4-0 thrashing of hosts Macclesfield Town at Moss Rose.  County were in fine passing form, and their victory owes much to way they switched positions on the park with great efficiency.

Back down south, Bournemouth continued their dream start to the season with another 1-0 win, this time over struggling Rotherham United. The south-coast side finds itself second in the league, providing a staark difference to the Cherries’ battle against points deductions last season.

In the capital, Dagenham and Redbridge bounced back from their Carling Cup defeat to Cardiff City with an emphatic 5-3 defeat of newcomers Torquay United in a battle of the previously unbeaten.  The visitors were always in the hunt at Victoria Road, though, as the Gulls ran the Daggers close throughout the game.

Ross Andrew Gallacher

By Robert Sutherland

The tiresome media attention given to Bristol City manager Garry Johnson in the aftermath of the phantom goal has seemingly drawn a number of inaccuracies into the debate surrounding Saturday’s bizzarre incident. We here at FYP have decided to try and clear things up.

Below is a list of the facts surrounding the event. These are based on accounts given to a number of media outlets, all of which will be cited.

FACTS

• The ball crossed the line, three or more feet inside of the goalkeepers right post, so deep into the net that it bounced off metal tubing holding the back of the net down. Palace’s players close to Freddie Sears reeled away in celebration, unbeknown to them that the referee would make such a colossal error.

• The Bristol City players knew that a goal had been scored. Their body language in the video footage tells you all you need to know. Only when the referee moved towards his linesman did certain City players react differently.

• Gary Johnson’s comments post-match indicate that he also knew the goal had been scored, but due to his team’s poor performance at the time, he made a concious decision to be dishonest. Johnson told the BBC, “It was a goal of course, but I don’t see what I could have done about it at the time. I had my own team to think about because we weren’t playing well in the first half.”

• There was no infringement prior to the goal being scored. Despite the proclamaitions of Johnson and co., referee Rob Shoebridge did not whistle for a foul in the run-up to the goal. The infringement took place AFTER the goal had been scored – an infringement that should have been invalid as the ball should have been dead following the goal. Keith Hackett, general manager of the Professional Match Game Officials Board, told TalkSport, “There was certainly a flag raised shortly afterwards. Now I just want to clarify that is nothing to do with the ball crossing the line, or an offense taking place in the build up to the ball crossing the line. So the ball has now hit the back of the net, it’s a goal but not given, the ball then comes out of play and then the flag goes up for the infringement. We’re quite clear that this an error.”

• There was no linesman’s flag as the goal was scored. Johnson claims that the linesman’s flag went up as the goal was scored and has used this to justify his dishonesty. “We knew that the ball was likely to have gone in the net, but we also knew that wasn’t the situation at the time. We saw the linesman’s flag go up, that’s official now – Keith Hackett’s come out and said that,” Johnson told a press conference. The image below shows Palace’s player’s running towards Sears as referee Rob Shoebridge turns towars the linesman in the top right corner, whose flag is quite clearly not up. (Image taken from BBC’s iPlayer footage of the game.) The flag may have been raised a while after the goal.

• The referee did not give a free-kick after the incident. Dean Gerken took a goal-kick as a result of the referee’s decision. Had it been a free-kick, Gerken would have been instructed to take it from the location of the infringement.

The entire incident has left a lot of questions to be answered. The referee still hasn’t made any public comments about his actions, there is talk of an infringement but no clarification as to what the actual infringement was, and Palace are left without the possibility of a replay after the Football League stated that such an option would not be considered.

I know its not the Premiership but did you see that ball cross the line? I know I did, so why on Earth didn’t the match officials see it?

All the talk today has been about replays, suspended referees and general he said – they said nonsense, but the sad matter of fact is that the referee and his assistant got it horribly worng and should have been the ones to set the record straight rather than having others speak on there behalf.

Keith Hackett’s apology really counts for nothing and as much as I am not that keen on Neil Warnock yet I feel his moans this time are pretty much justified. Altough if Crystal Palace had gone on to win & not lose the game, I doubt we would be hearing as much about this as we currently are and likely to hear much further about this week.

Ball clearly shown in the goal where it would bounce back out and not be given.

After the Crystal Palace ‘goal’ that never was at the weekend (see left), once again managers all across the country have called for the governing bodies to introduce goalline technology to help out officials and eliminate the possibility of contentious decisions continuing. Crystal Palace manager Neil Warnock has demonstrated his feelings on goalline technology, firmly stating that it should be introduced. ”If they can’t spot these injustices they have got to have help.”

Those who back the idea of implementing technology to solve this problem will argue that it wouldn’t interfere with the flow of the game for the referee to look at a monitor for ten seconds to determine if the ball has crossed the line or not. Also, some of these wrong decisions could lead to big repercussions for the teams and managers on the wrong end of them.

For people who oppose the idea of technology, be it television replays for officials to look at or something that indicates the ball has crossed the line instantly, would claim that these mistakes are human error that has to be expected and add to the interest and charm of the game and that if these talking points were removed from the game it would become a more mundane game. There are also fears that if technology to solve this issue came into the game, would it stop there? Would the governing bodies decide to employ technology to determine penalty decisions or offside decisions during the game? Would technology invade every aspect of the game and potentially ruin the sport by providing no possibility for debate or contention?

I know if a wrong decision were to affect my team, Crewe Alexandra, I would be screaming for the technology to be there and shouting to everyone who would listen that it should already be in use. However, I do find it interesting and fun to talk about when it happens to any other team in the country, so for this reason I would quite like things left as they are. In addition to this I do fear that if technology were to be used succesfully at dealing with goalline issues, it would become appealing to governing bodies to try and eradicate all wrong or even slightly debatable decisions with technology, taking a lot of the intrigue out of the game.

So after thinking about this whilst writing, I have decided I am undecided on the topic, for now.

Blackpool have signed Jay Emmanuel Thomas from Arsenal on a 1 month loan.

In other news, the football league have rejected Crystal Palace’s request to replay match at Bristol City.

Crystal Palace scored a goal on Saturday. Only they didn’t. Freddie Sears put the ball in the net in their match against Bristol City, but it cannoned back out of the pole holding the base of the net in place. The match officials were not only uncertain that it had crossed the line, but the Palace team’s celebration, the Bristol City players’ resignation and the obvious reaction of the home crowd all failed to convince them that a goal was scored. A significant error, and one which would be brought to national attention thanks to two things, firstly that Bristol City went on to win the game, and secondly that Palace are managed by Neil Warnock.

Close to combustion at the time Warnock was still seething when the Football League Show called him up for a live chat some six hours later. Warnock began with a succinct summary of his own life; “I don’t know if [I] can calm down to be honest” before going on to advocate the use of video technology to aid in such situations… “Its the 21^st century, how long have we had a man on the moon?” although how much he would be able to see from that vantage point is unclear.

Warnock of course likes to state his own case on these occasions when he feels that something has gone against him by portraying himself and his team as a peoples’ champion, standing up to the man.  “All I know is we’ve got a genuine group of lads, a set of lads who have worked their socks off from start to finish, but then we’re let down by four people. If that had happened at the other end of the pitch there would have been an absolute riot, because its only us it just gets brushed away.” Having watched Crystal Palace under Warnock, I feel I have to take issue with his interpretation of ‘genuine’, and I am sure Kazenga LuaLua, who had to leave the field when Rovers played Palace in April after being elbowed in the head twice inside five minutes, would back me up.

There are those who say that Warnock is a “great character” and he is, if you are meaning character in it’s artistic sense. As a constructed concept of a person Warnock is great value as ‘unreasonable angry paranoid man’. In this sense he goes at his role with impressive commitment, like the caricatured goodies and baddies of televised wrestling; as modern football’s Big Daddy to Keith Hackett’s Giant Haystacks he does a fine job. However, Warnock is not a character he is a real person, and so what you see is what you get, he is simply an egotistical arsehole who enjoys overstating his case as ‘man of the ordinary folk’ and believes the whole world is out to stop him and his ‘genuine lads’.

So in conclusion, there was an injustice to be found at Ashton Gate, and in modern day football it is hard to understand how it was allowed to happen. However, as it happened to Neil Warnock, it is simply a very satisfactory start to the season.

So there I was a couple of nights ago, wanting to write a new blog. What could I write about? Literally, I have no amusing alternatives here – my mind was blank.

As my wife slept next to me, I was watching TV thanks to my magic eye linking my sky box to the bedroom, and came across a rather interesting piece on goal-line technology.

“Wow,” I thought, “this could be an interesting thing to write about”.

So I set to writing – for about 2 hours, and ended up with this huge piece with little or no interest whatsoever (about normal, I hear you say). So, I figured, “sack it”, turned the lappy off and went to sleep.

If only I had something – a lead which could give my whole piece some meaning, shape and/or form – but short of one incident 20 odd years ago (ironically – as it turns out – involving Crystal Palace) I couldn’t really come up with anything concrete.

I’m not a religious man, but on Saturday afternoon – the first day of the long-awaited new football season – God spoke (or Satan, depending on whether you are a Palace fan or not).

Palace striker Freddie Sears must have figured it would be a fruitful season when his shot on 34 minutes nestled into the back of Bristol’s net – and ran away to celebrate with his team mates.

Until, that is, referee Rob Shoebridge outrageously awarded a goal kick!

At first I thought he’d figured it hit the post, but the only reason to award a goal kick was if it hit the advertising boards behind the goal – and ANYONE could see that hadn’t happened.

And this only just solidifies the argument I was going to make the other night – goal-line technology is now a must.

Football used to be just a sport – if a bad decision was made, what the hell – it was only a game (albeit a most beautiful one). But nowadays, when football clubs are businesses for the rich and not-always-so-famous, why oh why haven’t the FA moved to give some sort of technology to match Britain’s number 1 sport to a similar level to that of rugby and even cricket?

Are they genuine in their desire to move forward, or are they actually wishing to simply carry on living in the past?

Technology exists that can show a referee’s watch whether a ball fully crossed the line or not – that has been proven. So why not do the refs a favour and award it?

Obviously, it will cost money – but this writer is not in a position to realistically speculate how much, and whether the FA can do it. But logic states the FA should have funds for development of the domestic game – this one small step can provide a giant leap forward for English football.

On the show I was watching, former FA man Brian Barwick made a case against goal-line technology which strikes me as somewhat weak.

” I call it technological creepage. We start with goal-line, then we do offsides, then we do penalty incidents football has to be really robust as it is at the moment without goal-line technology.”

So then, the stance appears to be that this would force the FA to introduce more technological advances – but would that be a bad thing?

I get that football needs to be robust, as Mr Barwick himself said – and I even agree with that. But when it gets to the point that one single bad decision from the referee can ultimately lead to a club’s relegation, costing the owners between £20m – £70m (depending on which reports you read), I’m fairly sure many clubs that could afford it would even contribute to these improvements.

The old adage states that one must speculate to accumulate, so this could be an insurance policy for all clubs – spend this small amount of money to help maintain domestic standards, and only be relegated if you genuinely didn’t get the goals you needed – in which case it’s back to the drawing board and start again.

Crystal Palace’s goal yesterday was perfectly good, and this whole debacle could have been avoided had this technology at least been being trialled.

It cost them a single point yesterday – but, as any fan of any club will know, that one point could be worth 20 at the end of the season if it helps them get where they need to be.

And the aftermath was eerily reminiscent of the other famous occasion that such an event happened in 1980 – when Clive Allen of – you guessed it – Crystal Palace struck a shot into the top corner, which – you guessed it again – hit the stanchion and rebounded onto the pitch, where the referee declared – you guessed it once more – that it had hit the woodwork.

The bad sign for Palace fans? Eight months after that incident in 1980, Palace were relegated. Not that history has THAT much of a habit of repeating itself – does it?

Crystal Palace 1-1 Plymouth Argyle

By James Daly

Much maligned Palace striker Alan Lee saved the team’s blushes with a well-taken header in the season opener with Plymouth argyle.

Lee hasn't had the best of times at Palace.

Lee, who came on for the injured debutant Stern John, nodded in Victor Moses’ cross early in the second half to level the match at 1-1.

Pilgrim’s midfielder Krisztian Timar had given the away side the lead after just three minutes at Selhurst Park, but the Eagles played their way back into the match with some impressive football.

John was joined by Moses and debutant Freddie Sears in attack, the latter winning Man of the Match. Sears could have won it for the home side when he drilled a shot wide with a few minutes remaining.

Youngster Allesane N’Diayne, who impressed in pre-season, started in midfield alongside Neil Danns and Shaun Derry, and showed some good touches in a debut that nodded towards a promising career.

Neil Warnock’s side played some exciting football and were unlucky not to grab a winner.

Crystal Palace face Plymouth Argyle in the first game of the season hoping to secure an all-important first win of the campaign at Selhurst Park.

Sears is likely to make his professional debut for Palace.

Palace haven’t had the greatest of recent records againts the Devon club, with just three wins and one draw in nine fixtures. The most recent fixture saw Palace beat Plymouth 3-1 at Home Park – with Alan Lee, Neil Danns and John Oster scoring.

Other than long-term injuries, manager Neil Warnock should have an almost fully-fit squad to pick from, with new signing Darren Ambrose the only doubt.

He told the Streatham Guardian, “Darren gives us that little bit of quality and we’ve missed him the last couple of weeks but he’s not far away.

“We wont rush him if there’s a doubt though, we will leave him a week if we need to because long term we need him in the side.”

Palace are also likely to give debuts to new signings Freddie Sears and Stern John, while youngsters Alassane N’Diaye and Nathaniel Pinney could feature as substitutes.

]]> http://fypfanzine.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/palace-rumoured-to-sign-two/ Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:09:33 +0000 rdsutherland http://fypfanzine.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/palace-rumoured-to-sign-two/

By Robert Sutherland

The South London Press has reported that Crystal Palace have signed Stern John on a one-year deal.

John, 32, has signed in time for him to feature in a number of pre-season fixtures in preparation for the season opener against Plymouth Argyle at Selhurst Park on the 8th of August.

The former Birmingham City, Coventry City, Southampton and Bristol City striker will be looking to challenge Alan Lee for the central striker role (should manager Neil Warnock persist with a three-man forward line.)

Meanwhile, Warnock has confirmed that Palace have secured a deal with defender Claude Davis.

Davis, 30, was on loan with the Eagles towards the end of last season.

The Jamaican will however have to wait for a work permit before he can play for the club, a process that could take up to four weeks to complete.

Crystal Palace 0-1 Norwich City

By Robert Sutherland

Crystal Palace succumbed to a 1-0 defeat against Norwich City at Selhurst Park tonight, in a pre-season fixture that saw less than 2000 fans attend.

Neither sides scored in the first half despite some good opportunities, Freddie Sears and Neil Danns the stand-out performers for Palace.

However, it wasn’t until the second half that a goal was scored, and it went Norwich’s way,  Simon Whalley scoring just after the break. .

Despite rumours prior to pre-season indicating that manager Neil Warnock was looking to change to a 4-4-2 formation, Palace’s players lined up as a 4-3-3, a formation that proved frustrating last season.

Palace toiled for the remainder of the half, but despite a 20-yard effort being well saved by Norwich keeper Michael Theoklitos from a Sears shot, they couldn’t equalise.

The game saw Jose Fonte come on up front for the Eagles, while there was also a substitute appearance from Lewes trialist Stephen Cox.

By Robert Sutherland

Bristol Rovers 0-3 Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace kept their unbeaten pre-season going with a 3-0 win over League 1 side Bristol Rovers on Friday night. .

Palace went 1-0 up through Freddie Sears, who has so far scored 3 goals in pre-season matches. The goal, a superb solo-effort, came from a long punt upfield by Clint Hill.

The second goal came from the penalty spot with a little more than ten minutes to go, when Alan Lee was upended by former Palace full-back Jeff Hughes. Midfielder Neil Danns converted it.

And the final, third goal came from Palace’s young Frenchman Alessane N’Diaye following another long-ball into the box, with Jeff Hughes once again at fault for Bristol Rovers, allowing N’Diaye to slide in on the far post.