Glenn Murray thanks Palace fans after sealing deadline day move to Bournemouth

Written by Jim Daly

*wipes tears* Glenn Murray has left Palace and joined Bournemouth and has thanked Eagles fans for their support.

Muzza has left after four years at Palace and 47 goals in 125 games, including 31 as he helped first the Eagles to promotion in 2013.

But a lack of games recently meant the chance to get regular football at newly promoted Bournemouth was too tempting, and he left in a £4m deal on deadline day.

"Felt from day one we had an instant rapport and have enjoyed sharing some of the highest and lowest moments of my career with you.

He posted to Instagram:"Wanted to thank everyone associated with CPFC for the past four years; players, managers and staff but especially the fans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CVnfYr9Ykw

He added: "The passion and atmosphere you create is second to none. SE25 will always hold a special place in mine and my family's hearts. Thank you.

Before signing off "#17 #CPFC #CPFCFAMIL #FFS. Muzza" 

Muzza has been brilliant for Palace and anyone that signs from Brighton on a freeand then scores against them instantly becomes an Eagles legend.

All the best for the future Glenn; except when you play against Palace obviously!


Palace owner Steve Parish refuses to rule out Yannick Bolasie to Tottenham

Written by Joe Bloggs

Deadline Day is creeping closer and Tottenham are still sniffing around Palace's star winger.

But Eagles owner Steve Parish would be surprised if Bolasie did go to White Hart Lane.

And he admitted it would take crazy money for the Congo winger to leave Selhurst. 

Speaking to BBC Five Live he said: "You can never say. If someone offers crazy money.

But added: “It would take an extraordinary bid at this stage of the transfer window. We are confident he will still be a Crystal Palace player at the end of the transfer window.”

Everyone at Palace is hoping Bolasie stays with the Eagles second in the table following a brilliant start to the 2015/16 season.


 

Norwich City Letter - A Response from CEO David McNally

Written by FYP Team

In response to our letter to Norwich City FC regarding their ticket prices, FYP received a reply from their CEO, David McNally. The letter, dated 07/07/2015 was subsequently delayed in transit and only received this week. We have decided to publish it in full, with our thanks to David for taking the time to respond. 

 

 

To all at Five Year Plan Fanzine,

 

Many thanks for your e-mail and open letter which I received this weekend and for the considered view and arguments you took the time to put forward. Apologies by the way for the somewhat impersonal address above, but no individual names were listed in the letter I received. Let me say we do of course have real sympathy with those who may find the cost of supporting their team to be a challenge at times and we are always extremely grateful for the fantastic loyalty and backing shown to this club by Norwich City supporters here in Norfolk and further afield.

We remain in turn totally committed to supporting our first team and serving our supporters, not least by always endeavouring to provide them the best possible value for the money they give their football club.

l'd like to mention some key points which we believe are worth bearing in mind when considering our ticket pricing policy. There is a unique financial backdrop which affects our ticketing strategy at Carrow Road, which we think it is only fair to consider when evaluating our pricing for any given match.

NCFC's Non-benefactor financial model

In Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones we believe we have the best owners in football, but not by any means the wealthiest. Unlike the majority of clubs in the Premier League, we do not have any ad-hoc sums of cash coming into our bottom line over and above the television incomes you refer to - except for any income we can responsibly generate ourselves as a business.

Thanks to this and, of course, to the Financial Fair Play rules, we cannot spend on the team sums which outweigh what we can generate ourselves. In order to compete with our counterparts in the Premier League and to give us the best chance of continuing to provide Premier League football to the people around the county of Norfolk, therefore, we work to a strong co-operative model. The commitment we make to our fans is that every spare penny we generate goes back into football to support our manager Alex Neil's work on and off the pitch.

22,000 season tickets at Carrow Road

We have once again capped our season ticket sales at 22,000 for games at Carrow Road next year. This means that more than 80 per cent of the crowd present at our games are season ticket holders, who will this year be enjoying Premier League football at a massive discount - with adults paying £26.28 per match in most standard areas and Under-12s in family areas just £3.67 per game.
Despite the fact that season ticket income is clearly a key revenue stream for us, we froze our prices this campaign for a second consecutive season as a thank you to our fans for their loyal support in recent years. Carrow Road will have one of the highest proportions of season ticket holders as a percentage of overall capacity (in our case c27,000) compared to other grounds in the Premier League next season - and therefore one of the highest proportions of fans watching at a significantly discounted rate.

Committed to supporting our travelling fans

Like your own club Crystal Palace and the other clubs in the Premier League, we will be committing resources this year to assist our fans who follow us up and down the country in huge numbers via a range of initiatives. ln the past these have included substantial ticket and coach travel subsidies and we will be announcing this season's initiatives in due course.

Away facilities - excellent standard

Unlike some of the comparable facilities found at other grounds, the away section at Carrow Road offers unrestricted views from every seat - and a choice of positions ranging from pitchside to a more elevated vantage point. None of the seats are in an upper tier hundreds of yards from the pltch as is the case at some clubs. The catering and toilet facilities are also of an excellent standard.

Price grading system - designed to fill Carrow Road

Our price grading system has not changed in many years now and is designed to enable us to flex the price depending on the opposition and other factors, such as the date of the game, whether it's our first match back in the Premier League following an exciting promotion campaign and so on. lt's worth remembering that under league rules the prices we charge away supporters are also the casual prices we charge our fans in comparable home areas.

Our strategy is always to set casual prices which help us to achieve our overall objective, which is to sell out Carrow Road. Our record in this regard in recent seasons, in both the Football League and the Premier League, has been very good and this is something we are very keen to maintain.

Norwich City v Crystal Palace - sold out

Our opening Premier League game against your club, Crystal Palace, on August B is, I'm pleased to report, already another complete home sell-out. Crystal Palace have taken their full allocation in the away end.

I hope the points raised above help to explain our pricing strategy not just for the Crystal Palace match in August, but generally. Sometimes it can be easy to single out a particular game and criticise the pricing policy without taking into account other extenuating factors. For example, we have been criticised by fans of one or two clubs for our prices at Carrow Road, only for our fans to be charged similar prices when they visit the clubs in question - and in the Premier League there may well be some clubs who charge our fans more to visit their grounds than is the case for the return fixture at Carrow Road.

Thank you once again for taking the time to share your views so eloquently and your passionate support for your club is clear for all to see. I very much hope you will be coming to support them at Carrow Road on August 8, when l'm sure a full Carrow Road will generate a fantastic atmosphere which will be a credit to both clubs and to the Barclays Premier League.

Signed,

David McNally,

Chief Executive Officer

Norwich City Football Club

Crystal Palace complete signing of QPR goalkeeper Alex McCarthy

Written by Matt Woosnam

Crystal Palace have made their third major summer signing with the acquistion of Alex McCarthy for an undisclosed fee, believed to be in the region of £3.5million.
Alex McCarthy
The Eagles have already snapped up Yohan Cabaye for a club record fee, and Patrick Bamford on loan from Chelsea.

The goalkeeper joins on a four-year deal after speculation throughout the summer that he would swap west London for south London.

 

McCarthy joined Rangers from Reading last summer but found himself frustrated as he sat on the bench and played only four times for the club.

He began his career at Reading, and made 75 appearances for the Royals, including 13 in the Premier League, before then linking up with QPR for an undisclosed fee last August, despite rumoured interest from Liverpool. 

But his spell at QPR has not been a happy one and McCarthy will be given the chance to compete with Julian Speroni for the No 1 shirt between the sticks at Selhurst Park this season.

The move is likely to see Wayne Hennessey depart to West Bromwich Albion to rejoin former manager Tony Pulis, although he has travelled with the squad to South Africa. 


 

Crystal Palace loyalty points: Don't put a value on our support

Written by Robert Sutherland

The issue of loyalty points has raised its head this week, following a formal announcement by the club. Given it affects so many fans and has already created some strong reactions, we think it important that we at FYP take a stance on the matter. In short, we disagree with the loyalty points system in its current incarnation.

Crystal Palace fans are a varied bunch - we have a great deal of supporters far and wide, some who go to a single game a season, some who have home season tickets, others who go to both intermitently, and the hardcore element whose support is heard at every single match, whether near or far. We also have fans who have flown the south London nest who are every bit as ardent in their Palace obsession as many of us who are still able to make the regular pilgrimage to SE25.

There is no grade system when it comes to support - we are all loyal in our own ways - and that fact should be cherished and promoted. It shouldn't have a value imposed on it.

And this is where the problem with loyalty points lies. It does put a value on support - and it does so in a way that puts an emphasis on rewarding those who spend money at home games with points that could quite easily amount to more than the points you can get from travelling to somewhere as far-flung as Sunderland or Carlisle. That the scheme is equated, by its name, with loyalty will only serve to rub salt in the wounds of many fans annoyed at its points structure.

The cost of travelling to away games - to provide that little corner of noise, the kind that is often heard filling the stadium - will now often be disproportionate in comparison to the loyalty points awarded under the new scheme. What value is your dedication to travelling to away games, if a fan at Selhurst can make the same points with a £40 spend at Selhurst Park.

Some of us travelled to Newcastle last season - our total spend was in excess of £100. Some of the talk of fans buying sufficient merchandise to outscore ardent away fans on loyalty points may be slightly exaggerated. But the principle that spend in the club shop may, in some circumstances under the new scheme, hold greater value than time, effort and hardcore dedication in attending Palace games far and wide is unsatisfactory.

We see no reason why the purchase of tickets and season tickets cannot be separated from the spend on a matchday - with tickets and season tickets contributing towards future ticket purchases, and merchandise and concession purchases contributing to further merchandise rewards.

That way those fans who support Palace from afar can be rewarded for their own type of dedication in the right way, while those fans that travel far and wide will continue to get the access to away tickets that they deserve.

We call on Palace to review it's stance on the matter and to consult with supporters on how the system can be improved.

Team FYP


 

Crystal Palace Secure Chelsea Striker Patrick Bamford on Season-Long Loan

Written by Robert Sutherland

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Crystal Palace have announced the signing of Chelsea striker Patrick Bamford on a season-long loan. 

The young striker signed a three-year contract with his current club before completing his move to SE25, perhaps an indicator of just how highly he is regarded at the West London side. 

Bamford started his career in football as a youth player for Nottingham Forest, and was signed by Chelsea for £1.5m after making just two appearances for the club. He then immediately joined MK Dons on loan, where he made 37 appearances scoring 18 goals. His spell at Derby saw a return of eight goals in 21 starts, while 39 games at Boro last season saw a return of 17 goals. 

While his scoring record is impressive, it will be interesting to see just how he fits into Alan Pardew's side, and whether that scoring touch can adapt to the challenge of Premier League football. 

It is likely that Bamford will join up with the rest of the Palace squad on their trip to South Africa.