Just saw an interview with Steve Parish, fan and owner of Crystal Palace. They’ve had an unbroken 10 year run in the EPL, usually finishing in the middle third of the table.
He was asked where he saw Palace in 5 years’ time. He said their objective would be semi- finals of the domestic cups, perhaps winning one occasionally, and qualifying for the lower tier European competitions.
Having had previous financial crises, rash overspending was not an option, ever.
In order to do that, they needed to grow their turnover and to the end, they were about to start building a new larger grandstand to match the one on the other side.
Big money signings were too high risk and they’d put a big investment into their academy. Of course, they are extremely lucky where they are. Something like 1 in 3 English players in the EPL come from an area of perhaps 100 sq miles south of the Thames.
All in all, very much from the Simon Hallett playbook and timely given what we face in the financially incontinent Championship.