The most important thing about being a chairman is the ability to say ‘no’. I’ve never been frightened to say no to people and I think, in football, people get killed by an unwillingness to say it” – Steve Parish, 31 July, 2013
Usually, we can rely on the Premier League to at least make it to the beginning of October before the inevitable rolling of heads.
But, in what may be an early sign of an unpredictable season to come, Crystal Palace and Tony Pulis parted ways just two days before the start of the 2014-15 campaign.
It is unclear whether Steve Parish, the Palace co-chairman, simply wouldn’t break the club’s rigid transfer and wage budget.
Or if, in fact, he is incapable of doing football deals at the level that Pulis demanded in order to reach the next level.
What we do know is that Parish isn’t a lackey. He is the CEO of Tag Worldwide, a production and media company that has made him millions.
Those millions enabled him to take Palace out of administration only four years ago and buy Selhurst Park from Lloyds Bank as part of the deal. In short, Parish knows his apples.
And he has proved to be extremely adept at turning over the skills that he honed in business to that of football club ownership.
Doing a transfer deal in football is relatively easy. There are some fundamental points to negotiate, of course, but on the whole there are relatively few surprises.
It is not an infinite jumble of numbers. It is a discussion with boundaries based on market value and affordability, encompassing transfer fee, wages, bonuses and length of contract.
What is less easy is the unpopular job of trying to run a solvent football club.
As the Stoke City manager, Pulis was backed by the multimillionaire, near billionaire, Peter Coates, the founder and owner of one of the world’s largest online sports betting sites, bet365.
Coates is a man who, despite his vast wealth, may yet ask on his death bed where all his money went, given the level at which he has subsidised Stoke.
But any chairman willing to throw money at football players will have no trouble finding a manager to help him do it.
For Pulis’ part, he is known in the game as a control freak. He always has been, from the top down – the players, the chef, the fitness coach, the chief executive and the physio.
Nobody is immune to the way that Pulis thinks their job should be done, despite having a fraction of the knowledge of the people that hold those positions.
And that causes friction.
There were no shortage of stories emerging from the Britannia Stadium of arguments and punch-ups during Pulis’ reign as Stoke manager.
One accusation even led to a full internal inquiry, when it was alleged that the Welshman threw a head-butt at his talismanic front man, James Beattie, after a dispute in the Emirates Stadium changing-room about the length of time off the players were allowed for their Christmas party.
I was told that the players were initially told to report on Tuesday only for Pulis to change his mind, after the defeat to Arsenal, and call the players in on the Monday.
Pulis kept his job thanks to an incredibly close relationship with the national and local Press but his reputation in the game among the players who knew what had really taken place was shot to pieces.
And it is perhaps on that point that we can uncover the real reason that so many of Pulis’ transfer targets turned down the opportunity to join him at Palace.
Most footballers will simply do an about turn wherever allegations persist of attacking players and hanging them out to dry in the Press.
People will argue that Pulis may have made a rod for his own back, with an incredible run last season that saw Palace win 11 of their remaining 25 matches as they finished in a club record 11th place in the Premier League.
There may be some truth to that. It is certainly reasonable to suggest that any chairman picking the bones out of last season would be reluctant to spend big money on players knowing what Pulis can achieve from much cheaper ones.
And Palace, after all, are not trying to improve on last season’s league position. They are once again trying to finish no lower than 17th.
Parish didn’t just sit in front of Pulis and tell him that he wouldn’t be supporting him in the transfer market for the sake of not supporting him. He had sound reasons.
The fact is that Parish baulked at the premium in wages he would have had to pay, not only to persuade those kind of players to join a less fashionable club like Palace but, crucially, to work with a manager like Pulis.
Make no mistake, though, Parish has ambition. Speaking before the start of last season he said: “I want to improve the ground, bring in exciting players. I want to do something that will hopefully excite the fans.”
Make no mistake, though, Parish has ambition
In order to do that, the co-chairman knows that he needs a manager who attracts better players with exciting football.
There aren’t many constants in this sport of ours. It is a very fluid game, both on and off the pitch.
But one thing always holds true in football, whether it be a manager, a player or an owner. ***** always sticks …
Read more at
www.thesecretfootballer.com/articles/the-secret-footballer/21110/parish-wins-palace-power-struggle/#WMaB8YigQHVuvwUF.99
