Crystal Palace should give Tony Pulis what he wants
Sometimes, a well-timed leak to the press can work wonders for a manager. If Tony Pulis doesn’t get fired, he’s going to strengthen his squad and keep them in the Premier League.
Tony Pulis is the reigning Premier League Manager of the Year, and if he doesn't get his way, he might end up quitting Crystal Palace a day before the new season starts. He's unhappy with a lack of transfer funds at Palace, according to the Telegraph, and is having what the paper described as "showdown talks" with the board. He wants more money to spend on players and he's reportedly threatening to walk out if he doesn't get his way.
In Pulis’ mind, he’s proven that money won’t go to waste as long as he’s manager. He rescued a poor Palace side from relegation and they could push into the top half with a couple of smart purchases. On the other hand, Palace’s revenues are among the lowest in the league and the league is strong, top to bottom. It’s very possible that they could spend well into the eight figures on new players, then finish bottom of the league.
Because of the high number of English teams that have been ruined by reckless spending over the last decade, it might seem just as easy to sympathize with the Palace board as Pulis, but the new Premier League television deal should negate fears of financial armageddon. Not only does that deal mean increased revenues for every team in the league this season, but also increased parachute payments for the teams that get relegated. Palace doesn’t have anything to be afraid of.
The days of the disaster plunge from the Premier League into footballing obscurity are dead. Those aforementioned parachute payments and the TV contract are simply too big for Palace to “do a Leeds.” They’re also not going to do a Portsmouth, as long as they don’t try to evade taxes.
Pulis isn't after outlandish purchases. "Pulis has already missed out on top targets Steven Caulker and Gylfi Sigurdsson," said the Telegraph, referring to two players who would have cost less than eight figures and wages that, while relatively high for Palace, would have been significantly less than those of the players Queens Park Rangers splurged on during their disastrous 2012-13 campaign. They're reasonable signings for a club of Palace's size.
To this point, Palace have only spent on two players -- Fraizer Campbell, who arrived for under £1m, and Martin Kelly, whose fee is undisclosed but likely didn't cost much more than that. It's likely that Palace could spend enough to buy 2-3 more players of Kelly's quality or one star and still turn a profit this year.
Pulis also has leverage. Getting relegated is more expensive than spending money in the transfer market -- unless you can bounce right back up in your first season in the Championship with a cheap, bare-bones squad -- and Palace will probably get relegated if Pulis resigns his post on Friday. They have a squad that a good manager can keep up, but there aren’t that many good managers out there who would take the job on this short of notice, especially with the likely promise of no transfer budget. Would someone like Roberto Di Matteo or Michael Laudrup even take the job?
Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be surprising if emotion won out over a sound business decision for Palace. There’s no reason that a Palace board member or anyone that they confide in would have leaked this news to the press because it doesn’t benefit them at all. Public opinion is going to be with Pulis, given the incredible job he did last season, the Eagles’ lack of transfer activity thus far and the magnitude of the new TV contract. Something like this only gets to the press if someone close to Pulis leaks it, and that’s probably what happened in this case.
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That strategy could see Palace agree to spend on a Pulis target or two in an attempt to both save face and avoid a relegation battle, but this move has backfired on managers before, and we don’t know how the Palace co-chairmen weigh principles against business. Managers have been fired simply for leaking what the board thinks should be private business to the press, and that could happen again.
If that’s how this story ends, it’s sad for Palace fans, who had hopes of comfortably avoiding a relegation battle, pushing towards the top half and perhaps making a deep cup run. Instead, they could go back to being a mid-table Championship institution, rarely harboring realistic visions of a future in the Premier League. It’s happened to bigger and more talented teams before them.
Perhaps players like Caulker and Sigurdsson are a little rich for the Palace board’s blood, but buying one or two players whose fee and wages fall somewhere between those two and the two players they’ve currently signed would benefit all parties. It’ll placate Pulis, who would probably prefer a compromise to unemployment, the team will probably stay up, and the result of that will be Palace turning a profit this season. All of this will keep fans very happy.
Leaking this to the press was a risky move by Pulis, but it’s probably going to result in a positive outcome for everyone involved.
