Welcome back to the Party at the Palace. If you haven't caught any of the previous posts, you can start from the beginning here.
Right, let's get to the start of the new episode.
We re join the party in full swing as we are still celebrating our outstanding achievements in winning the FA Cup for the first time alongside our second success in the Europa Conference League.
The only slight dampener to these victories was the slightly disappointing league performance, where once again we tailed off towards the end of the season throwing away our chances of finally breaking into the top 4.
That must be our next goal.
Off The Field Improvements
We begin with our Supporter profile update.
It appears that we have picked up some fair weather fans over the last 12 months along with an extra 1.4 million social media followers.
This increase in interest of in the club has finally convinced the board that we need to make some investment in the infrastructure.
We have finally secured an improvement to Selhurst Park, an increase of 8.5k seats is a good opening Increase which will take us to a capacity of 32k
Transfer Activity
We will begin with the players joining us over the summer (Split into two parts due to early movement in the market)
It feels nice to be back in the market again after making minimal movement last season. Lets have a closer look at the new recruits.
Jose Pablo Thelemaque joins us from Mexican side Deportivo Guadalajara.
An exciting young midfielder who can cover numerous roles. His versatility will be key to his success. As part of the deal he will stay in Mexico for the season on loan.
Henrik Markfoged joins us from FC Midtjylland
Another young midfielder who has bags and bags of potential. I don't think he is quite at the level of Eze and Chambon at the moment but with the right development he has every chance of being. Really adds strength in depth.
Audrick Esor Joins us from Rennes.
Esor is a natural at centre back and has the potential to be a decent holding midfielder too.
His athleticism is a huge strength and with some fine tuning could be a very cultured player.
Carlos Tancredi joins us from Uraguayan side Wanderers.
Another defensive addition who can play comfortably in the middle of the defence or at right back. Picked up for 250k there is little to no risk in this deal (He's now worth 45 mil)
Maye a loan for the first season but we will monitor him carefully.
Enzo Oros joins us from River Plate.
Huge potential and near perfect personality. Great defensively with a bit of work needed on his physicals.
I hope we get to see him and Giovangoli as an Argentinian partnership in the centre of the park soon.
Douglas Mena joins us from Costa Rican side Alajuelense.
A young goalkeeper who at the age of 20 already has 26 caps for Costa Rica. He will push for the number one spot in goal.
All for less than 2 million.
I feel that for 48 million for 6 first team squad players I see that as huge value for money! It adds depth which will help us stay fresh for those tough spots in the season where the games just seem to be coming every other day!
Now, we have experienced a growth in finances recently due to some very profitable sales over the last few years. Blanco and Bardghji spring to mind immediately.
They accrued us almost 85 million pounds in profit.
You can probably guess what I am building up to. Its time for the departures.....
We say goodbye to our midfield maestro, Conor Gallagher.
Signed from Chelsea in the January window 4 seasons ago for £20 million he has been an almost ever present in our midfield 3.
The £53 million profit was impossible to turn down and his desire to join City was undeniable. We thank him and wish him well.
So that's it for the summer transfer activity. 6 in and 1 out and we still make £15 million profit. I am becoming somewhat of a wheeler dealer.
Pre Season
A solid pre season with a good mixture of opponents and results. A perfect preseason.
Now lets get on with the start of the season.
July 2028
We start our season in the marquee seasonal opener, the Community Shield.
Pitting the League winners (Liverpool) against the FA Cup winners (Us) against each other at Wembley.
Many call it a Friendly but its the chance of a piece of silverware in my mind.
We start with a tight defeat to Liverpool. Not to concerned by that result as we had a very strong performance.
August 2028
Its time for the league to start and we are looking to buck a trend of a slow start that has clouded our seasons for the last few seasons.
Its an unbeaten start with some really really solid results. Leonardo has started the season in full swing with 6 goals in 5 games.
There are a couple of fixtures in the there that in previous season we would have drawn or even lost so its nice to see some progress.
Although the results were positive we have suffered a potentially serious set back, a long term injury already.
Mudryk suffers a broken lower leg in the Fulham game. Although we have perfect cover in Schjelderup, there isn't much after him.
September 2028
The injury to Mudryk had overshadowed what was a fantastic start to the league and September heaps pressure on with the League Phase of the Europa League, here is our draw.
Some tough games in there, but I would expect us to make it through to the round of 16 without any issues.
Right, back to league action.
We suffer our first defeats of the season. West Ham was a tough one to take as we were the better team but couldn't seem to take our chances.
A strong recovery in defeating Wolves comfortably away and we pushed Liverpool all the way at home only to fall to an 86th minute thunderbolt.
Now onto the Europa League.
A perfect start to the start of the league phase. Some rotation seeing Adam getting his chances and backing that decision up with a goal in the opener.
October 2028
September was a disappointing month domestically with 2 defeats in 3, and now with the start of European competitions the strain on the squad will start to show.
Lets check out the premier league results for October.
Well it was a tough run of games and we lost the one, that on paper looks to be the most winnable to our bitter rivals Brighton.
We take 3 points off of Man City again, before a point at Spurs made it a respectable month considering.
We also had one game in the Europa League and rotation was the name of the game.
Its our first defeat in the League phase which dents our push for automatically qualifying for the last 16.
November 2028
The season rolls on as we make it to November. Our progress has stalled slightly but we have a good opportunity to get back on track with a couple of very winnable games.
Well I can say we are definitely an entertaining side! 28 goals in our 4 games during November. Delighted with how we performed in front of goal but we may need to look at what's going on at the back!
The key wins against Newcastle and Forest sandwich a close fought defeat against United.
We rescued a point against Villa after conceding in the 90th minute we scored directly from the kick off to secure a point which felt like 3.
Two games in the Europa league next and after our first defeat I was keen to get our campaign back on track.
Back to winning ways and the Ajax result is eye opening. Especially with their pedigree in Europe. Very pleased with the results.
December 2028
We reach what can only be described as a jam packed month of action. We have no less than 7 Premier League games. Add that to an away trip in the Europa League, this is going to be a real test of this young squad.
Lets check out the Premier League action first.
So close to an unbeaten month, only to fall to defeat in the least game of the year. Some fantastic performances in there including the draw away at Arsenal and the victory away at Liverpool.
This run of results has really kept us in the fight in the top 7, which is the bare minimum we expect this season.
Our away trip in the Europa League was to Portugal to face Braga. Its a tough trip at the best of times let alone when put in the middle of the run of games above.
Its a fantastic result and one that puts us in a prime position in the League Phase.
Half way Tables
Lets have a look at the Premier League and Europe League Phase Tables.
We sit in a decent position at the half way stage and with a good run of form with the opportunity to strengthen the squad in January the aim has to be an all out attack on the league.
2 Games left in the Europa League Phase to go and two of our easier fixtures to go, we are a win away from securing automatic qualification into the Round of 16.
That is the first part of Season 7 covered. We will return with the second half of the season which will include the January transfer window, conclusion of the premier our European adventures and the Domestic cup campaigns.
Its going to be a good one.
Cheers
Panda
