Normally another win which took us level on points with the European cup qualifying fourth place team would be the highlight of this blog. However, something else went down this week which crystallizes Crystal Palace and the Austin Eagles into the higher echelons of English Premier League football. Two American billionaires, Josh Harris and
David Blitzer, have confirmed their massive initial investment of around $80m to the club and now join our current owner Steve Parish as equal partners. The pair already own the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL's New Jersey Devils and they want to add Palace to their portfolio.
Over the past ten years or so, the uber rich have taken over the English Premier League's top teams with millions of dollars up for grabs from the crazy TV deals now offered. Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool to name but a few have all seen huge leaps forward from
this. And now it's time for our little club to follow suit. This money will mostly go toward the much needed improvements to our ground Selhurst Park. But what this really means to all you little Eaglets out there is that we can now finally shed the black clouds of bankruptcy that have constantly loomed over our heads. With billionaires like these guys owning Palace, as Yazz said, the only way is up. They will never let the club die. Current owner Parish being the savvy businessman and dedicated Palace fan that he is remains at the helm for day to day operations of the club with our American friends involving themselves on the big stuff.
The other good news stemming from this is that Palace will inevitably be trying to increase their American fan base. This will mean summer tours to these shores which we can attend and maybe even some recognition of all the hard work from you my Austin Eagles.
Thanks to all who came down for the game last weekend. We had a good showing which relegated our arch fan rivals Everton, who have long been trying to gain a foothold into Fado, to the soundless corner TV. A highlight from the day was when the barman lead the sad scouse ensemble to the lonely corner as they whinged about having been there
for four weeks in a row and how they demand recognition. Not on your nelly Toffeemen.
The splendid day was capped off when our token Korean winger Lee Chung-Yong blasted in the winning goal from 25 yards out with just two minutes of the game to play. The Austin Eagles along with token Korean Tottenham supporter Cindy Rho were the only Fado fans to cheer that day as the hoards of United fans glaring at the pub's main screen had to watch their team lose to bottom feeder Norwich. What a day it was.
The Christmas footy schedule is upon us so happily we have two games in just three days to watch now. We play Bournemouth on Saturday at 9am and Swansea at 9am on Monday. Please join me for both at Fado.
Happy holidays my feathered friends.