Chris Sutton has claimed that Steve Parish and Roy Hodgson ‘deserve far greater respect’ from Crystal Palace supporters.
After the Eagles’ recent 5-0 defeat to Arsenal, away supporters revealed a banner that slammed the club for their decision making in the recent years.
The banner read: ‘Wasted potential on and off the pitch, weak decisions taking us backwards.’
While their drubbing at the Emirates will not have helped Hodgson or Parish’s case, It’s All Kicking Off co-host Sutton insisted that Palace fans should be grateful.
Speaking on the latest episode, he said: ‘Football fans want everything don’t they? And they want it now. I mean it’s a well used phrase that football fans need to be careful what they wish for.
Chris Sutton has claimed that Roy Hodgson ‘deserve far greater respect’ from Crystal Palace supporters
Eagles fans voiced their frustrations with the club via a banner during their clash with Arsenal
It’s All Kicking Off co-host Chris Sutton argued that Palace supporters should be grateful
‘You know those banners were an attack on Roy Hodgson and their attack on Steve Parish and the board, weren’t they?
‘But you actually look at Crystal Palace as a club, over this last decade, believe it or not, Palace fans may think that the football has been pretty bland and pretty boring and there’s not the ambition, but it’s been the most successful period as far as I can see in the club’s history.
‘If you go back to the early 70s, they had four years in the top flight. I don’t remember the early 70s, I was just born then. But I do remember the end of the 80s when Palace got to the FA Cup final, they ended up losing in a replay. They finished third in their Premier League 1991, I think it was under Steve Coppell and this was the era of Ian Wright and Mark Bright.
‘Then they got relegated and then they became a little bit of a yo-yo club. They got relegated again in 97-98 and it took them six years to get back to the Premier League and Simon Jordan was in charge at this particular time.
‘They spent eight more years in the championship up until 2013-14 and then they’ve had this period a decade in the Premier League and I think that that’s been a real success.
‘And the issue is, as far as I can see, that Palace fans will be looking at other clubs, and there aren’t too many of them, but clubs like Brighton, and they will want the Brighton brand of football.
‘But what I would say to Crystal Palace fans is in five years from now, could they guarantee that Brighton and Brentford will be further ahead of their club? And will their clubs be better run than Crystal Palace? I’m not so sure they would be.
The Eagles look set for another season of mid-table mediocrity in the top-flight
Sutton argued that Steve Parish has conducted a ‘stable and steady ship’ at Selhurst Park
‘What I would say, and this is cautionary for Crystal Palace fans, is you can look at Brighton and say, well, you know, they’re a fantastic model at this moment in time. I went to watch Norwich City at the weekend, beat West Bromwich Albion, and they played pretty well.
‘In that 10 year period of Crystal Palace being a stable Premier League club, Norwich City have been up and down to the championship or down and up, I should say. I think they’ve been promoted four times, relegated four times. Every Norwich City fan would rather have a club run like Crystal Palace a run.
‘Look at Leeds, look at Coventry, look at Sunderland, look at Middlesbrough, look at Blackburn Rovers, look at Swansea, look at Birmingham, look at Stoke, look at QPR, look at Sheffield Wednesday. Think about their struggles. Look at the likes of Derby and Charlton and the way their clubs have been run and fallen away.
‘So Palace really, I think their fans should think about and show far greater respect to their owner for running a stable and a steady ship.
However, Sutton’s co-host, Ian Ladyman, said that the Eagles have been stuck ‘on repeat’
Sutton claimed that teams like Norwich and West Brom would be better off if they were ran like Palace
‘I think Steve Parrish, going into every Premier League season, they may think he’s too cautious and just want to survive. But maybe success is survival for Crystal Palace.
‘So when Crystal Palace fans are putting up their banners, wasted potential on and off the pitch, weak decisions. Well, tell us what those weak decisions are!
‘Because Roy has this reputation of being pragmatic and you know what? He’ll keep them up again this season. So I think that Steve Parrish and Roy Hodgson deserve far greater respect than they got at the weekend from Palace fans’.
Sutton’s co-host Ian Ladyman responded: ‘It’s a powerful argument. I understand that but, and as I said to you before, that clubs that aren’t moving forward aren’t really doing anything. And that is the issue here.
‘The last six seasons that Crystal Palace have had in the Premier League, they’ve finished 11th, 12th, 14th, 12th, and 11th. They always get between 43 and 49 points. So it’s the same every season, it’s on repeat’.
Sutton replied: ‘Clubs over a Premier League era who have had this unbelievable dream and ambition, who have chucked money at it, who are now, who have fallen away, who are struggling like mad.
‘When have Palace ever, with the greatest respect to Palace, when have Palace ever had a winning, you know, a winning history? They’re not Manchester United. I think you look, their greatest success was finishing third in the Old Division One. They’ve won, you know, I looked at cups they’ve won.
‘They’ve won the London Challenge Cup, the Surrey Senior Cup, the Kent Senior Shield. I mean, they don’t have a history. So when you’ve had the best period in your club’s history, just be careful what you’re wishing for if you want to go wild in the transfer market’.
