Palace have something stirring again under Vieira, which makes it remarkable that Harris wants to jump ship to Chelsea

THOSE of a certain vintage will recall a time when Crystal Palace were tipped as the Team of the 80s.

Packed with bright young talent and an even brighter young manager in Terry Venables, they were supposedly going to take English football by storm.

As it happened, despite a flying start in Division One, they never got close. Within two years El Tel had gone, so had most of the players and they were back in the second tier.

Barring one third-placed finish in 1990-91, Palace have never come close to troubling the scorers again.

Promotions, relegations, a couple of Cup finals but still no major trophies.

A few peaks but a hell of a lot more troughs. There has not been much joy in being an Eagles fan. Until this season, that is.

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For in recent months something has been stirring again at Selhurst Park.

A feeling of genuine optimism that it’s a club on the verge of something good.

A bright young manager in Patrick Vieira, a team of rising stars attracting envious glances, a youth policy doing likewise and a financially sound footing. All in all, a place on the rise.

After years of being a “meanwhile” kind of club, everything is geared up for a crack at the elite. Especially with all the uncertainty and vulnerability surrounding Chelsea.

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Which makes it quite remarkable that Josh Harris, a major Palace shareholder, is trying to jump ship to Stamford Bridge.

That’s aside from the two clubs meeting in an FA Cup semi-final in a fortnight. Imagine if Wilf Zaha or Tyrick Mitchell said in the run-up to that how desperate they were to join Chelsea.

Even in the WTF world of football, it’s bizarre.

In the land of short-termism, Harris is king. If timing is everything, his could not be worse. The American is the money behind the Sebastian Coe and Martin Broughton consortium, and to anyone lacking   football nous it does look a no-brainer.

In the one corner Chelsea, all glitz and glamour, Champions League winners, top-four regulars and King’s Road hipsters.

In the other Palace, mid-table at best, nervously looking over their shoulder on occasions and a ground that takes hours to reach from all quarters.

Only when you scratch a little deeper, it isn’t quite so obvious. Scratch a little deeper and you can argue the opposite is true.

Step back and look at things closer and you can claim that right now Palace have at least as much potential as Chelsea.

Harris wants to win trophies, there’s no hiding that any more than there’s anything wrong with that. But why can’t he win them at Palace?

Why does he think he has to hitch his wagon to Stamford Bridge to do so? Chelsea right now are  vulnerable and will be even when they’re sold.

Buying Chelsea will cost about £2.5bn. Running costs have averaged £75m a year since Abramovich arrived. Turning Palace into a top-four outfit would cost a fraction of that.

Those who have only discovered football in the past couple of decades may view them as being on a par with the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool or even Spurs and Arsenal.

But the truth is they’re not. While those four — especially the first two — are global institutions,  Chelsea, for all their recent glories, are not.

They are sexier than Palace right now but their foundations are nowhere near as solid as certain others. In short, Chelsea are not a genuine, long-established superpower.

And before you poo-poo the idea of Palace leapfrogging them as madness, consider this.

Buying Chelsea will cost about £2.5billion as a starter. On top of that any would-be buyer has to prove a further £1bn is available.

The running costs have averaged £75million a year since Roman Abramovich arrived. There are contracts, bonuses, plus plans for a new stadium.

Basically you’d be putting all that money in to stand still. Turning Palace into a genuine top-four outfit would cost a  fraction of that.

Take City and Liverpool out of the equation and what have you got? Chelsea in trouble, United in disarray, Spurs with little money to spend.

And yes, while Palace’s current ownership model doesn’t allow any single individual to inject huge sums by themselves, don’t tell me there couldn’t be a restructure which allowed it.

Harris has played his part in sailing the Eagles into previously uncharted waters — so why abandon ship now? Why swap a club on the upswing for one teetering on plummeting in the opposite direction?

Russian owners have taken a kicking recently, for obvious reasons. Certain American ones, in footballing terms, clearly have plenty of faults of their own.

Justice was not Dunne

ROBBIE DUNNE’S appeal against his 18-month ban for bullying and harassing fellow jockey Bryony Frost was heard in BHA’s High Holburn offices in west London on Wednesday.

They’d  have been better suited holding it at White’s, the East India or any of upper-crust gentlemen’s club where the well-to-do escape lesser mortals.

Certainly some of the language used, and decision reached, was more befitting the image of retired colonels quaffing  brandies, puffing expensive cigars and haw-hawing the plight of lesser mortals.

At one stage Anthony Boswood QC, chairing the panel, was light-heartedly reminiscing with Robin Mathew QC, representing Dunne, about their amateur riding days.

The two old associates debated such vital details as which was the most offensive insult of those Dunne had used, and praised him for being willing to take part in a “banging of heads” with Frost.

Boswood even questioned what Bryony said she was feeling, and tried to discredit her by claiming “she was obviously moved to emotion quite quickly”.

And so despite upholding the guilty verdict, the suspension was reduced to ten months, meaning Dunne is free to return to the saddle on October 9.

The original hearing heard how Dunne not only used  sexually abusive and insulting language but also threated to cause Frost physical harm.

Racing’s worked hard to drag itself out of the dark ages but  it took one afternoon to return there. This decision was as disgusting as Dunne’s behaviour.

He’s Stell the man

IT’S enough to send shockwaves through football . . . there will soon be another Guardiola at the Etihad.

Pep’s son Marius is studying for a degree in Community Sports Coaching, part of the City In The Community scheme.

You imagine he will have fewer problems than his classmates when he asks his old man for a bit of help with the homework.

Racing’s Top Tipsy

THERE will be cheers, tears and fallers galore when crowds return to Aintree’s Grand National meeting this week… and it won’t have a thing to do with racing.

Over the years there have been some unforgettable sights, usually at the end of Ladies Day, as those who have, er, enjoyed themselves a little too much try to find the exits. I have a pal who used to sit on a bench outside Lime Street station and laugh himself stupid  as punters tried to put one foot in front of the other.

As for the big race itself. I’m sorry to tell connections of Escaria Ten, Enjoy D’allen and Fiddlerontheroof, but they’ll be carrying my money this year.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk