Eagles’ co-owner Steve Parish has stated that the “love of running his club” is his motivation, and has hinted that this is not the same for some club owners in the Premier League – according to James Benge of the Evening Standard.
After an impressive second half to the 14/15 season, Palace are targeting further improvement and success this season. The major signing of Yohan Cabaye, followed by striker Connor Wickham has sent out a clear message and an atmosphere of confidence under Alan Pardew can be felt. You can also clearly see that Parish himself is having a great time leading the club, after taking control of the club on behalf of a consortium in the dark days of 2010.
Parish described that football can be a “crazy and, at times, maddening place” but insisted he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else and loved running the club.
However, he has questioned the motives of some of his contemporaries at other clubs in the Premier League, suggesting the bigger teams are led for different reasons. In particular, Parish broke down his opinions on the current leadership of Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United.
“For [Roman] Abramovich, it’s, ‘The more visibility I’ve got, the safer I will be when [Putin] comes after me’,”
“For the sovereign wealth fund [who own Manchester City], it’s about promoting the country. The fund has trillions in it. They have no concept of money.
“For the Glazers, it’s about making money. Americans feel that Premier League clubs are undervalued assets. The Glazers totally got the value of the United brand. You have got to hand it to them, they have made tens of millions by being strategic; they have milked the brand for all it’s worth.”
