Crystal Palace manager, Alan Pardew, warned that “lawyers and doctors” are not responsible for the great atmosphere teams like his thrive on.
According to an article in The Mirror Pardew said:
I think the owners of Premier League clubs, and we have a lot of foreign owners, need to really consider carefully that they don’t lose the core supporters that we have because if they think it’s just the product on the pitch that makes the Premier League what is it, it isn’t. It’s the atmosphere, it’s the drive from those core supporters that makes the atmosphere and the game unfold the way it does.
His comments come on the heels of the fallout from Liverpool’s initial plan to raise the ticket prices at Anfield when outraged supporters staged a 77th-minute walkout – during the Reds’ 2-2 draw with Sunderland.
You won’t have those dramatic finishes, those edgy games, those really conflictual games that we have without them so if they are, and they are the main ones driving it – you don’t see too many lawyers or doctors in the corporate areas moaning too much, and they get the best service in the world.
A prime example of what Pardew is talking about comes to life in NBCSN’s Behind The Badge series. This behind the scenes series shows how vital the atmosphere at Selhurst Park and their rabid supporters are to the Eagles. In good times and bad.
Crystal Palace are coming off a 1-1 draw with Swansea City and currently find themselves in 12th place in the Barclays Premier League. Five spots and eight points ahead of Pardew’s former club, Newcastle United and more importantly, nine points clear of the dreaded relegation zone.
