Chelsea vs Crystal Palace: How Steve Parish introduced a change of guard at the Palace

Appointing Alan Pardew was one of the chairman’s moments of truth which, as he tells Sam Wallace, helped him overhaul south London’s ‘perennial underachievers’ to become Premier League mainstays

Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish (Micha Theiner)

On holiday in the Caribbean last year, Steve Parish crossed paths with Roman Abramovich – as much as anyone ever does outside the Chelsea owner’s close circle of friends and advisors. The Crystal Palace co-chairman’s boat, borrowed from a friend, was moored near to the Russian billionaire's and the obvious difference between the two was that Abramovich, Parish jokes, did not just have a bigger boat, he had "an armada".

The difference in firepower will be felt again when Chelsea go for the three points they need to secure Abramovich’s fourth Premier League title at home to Palace tomorrow afternoon. Financially, Palace might as well be rowboats bobbing in the wash of Abramovich’s galleon but once again this season they have outstripped expectation and are comfortable in 12th place, safe from the relegation battle raging below them.

It has been another good season for their 49-year-old chairman, a wealthy man himself although nothing like on the scale of Abramovich’s fortune. Another difference between the two men is that the last time Palace did not lose at Stamford Bridge, in 1995, Parish was there as a fan and, indeed, his first game at Selhurst Park, in March 1973, was a win over the side from west London. “Two-nil on Jim Cannon’s debut,” he says. “We still got relegated that season.”

The game in 1995 is a useful jumping-off point for Parish’s vision for Palace, a vision that sees them becoming a part of the Premier League’s over-achieving clubs, established in the division instead of bouncing back and forth to the Championship. So far, so good. Despite having to replace his manager in both his Premier League seasons, Parish’s Palace, 17th in the league in terms of revenue, are outperforming wealthier clubs.

“In 1995 at Stamford Bridge, what do you think the gate was?” he asks. “14,000. That tells you if you have £1bn, people like success. Chelsea have come a long way. That was my big bugbear. When I was a kid supporting Palace, and then through that era in the early 1990s, if you went to Highbury or Stamford Bridge they were ahead of us but it wasn’t a completely different experience. From there we went nowhere. They went everywhere.

“Roman bought Chelsea because it was well positioned, in the right league and he could make all those improvements. It is in a pretty nice part of London and I am sure that had a big effect. Arsenal had massive investment in a new stadium. We went precisely nowhere. It’s a bit like Formula One, if you are not going forwards you are going backwards. That’s what I am determined to do something about.”

Parish is an original thinker who built his company, TAG, providing services to the advertising industry, into a multi-national with 2,500 full-time staff in 13 countries before he sold it. We meet at his Soho offices, his home turf away from Selhurst Park, and over the course of two hours the ideas for improving Palace and English football keep coming.

His late father, Alf, was a senior negotiator for the print union Slade and as a teenager Steve would accompany him to the Wapping picket line during the bitter stand-off with Rupert Murdoch in the 1980s. Later he rejected a place at university to start at the bottom in graphics arts, built up TAG and now has his sights set on changing Palace’s mentality from what he calls “perennial underachievers”.

Parish made the decision earlier this season to appoint manager Alan Pardew (Micha Theiner)

Parish is in pursuit of what he calls “moments of truth”, in other words, those occasions when the culture of the club can be changed for the better. He says appointing Alan Pardew in January was one of those moments made possible by the club having survived for a season in the Premier League. When he bought the club out of administration in 2010 one of the first things he did was renovate the main-stand reception to show the staff that things could change quickly.

“I have a deep-seated belief that each football club creates its own reality,” Parish says. “You are what you are, in our case a yo-yo club, perennial underachievers. You kind of attract people who like that, whether they work for you or support the club, and that is a self-fulfilling prophecy. For me that is why you see the status quo maintained among clubs for so long.

Pardew was appointed manager at the start of 2015 (GETTY IMAGES)

“I remember the nervousness at Everton last season [when they were close to getting Champions League football] and their belief system seemed to be that just wasn’t what they did. Why are Tottenham not in the Champions League? You can’t tell me that 75 per cent of the year you are good enough and 25 per cent of the season you are not. It’s a psychological barrier and a reality that football clubs have created for themselves.

“You need to try to change that and it is really difficult. The first thing we needed to do was pull some rabbits out the hat, get to the Premier League and stay there. We have achieved that in a financially prudent way. Then you need to do that Atletico Madrid thing. You can’t just do that with the players on the pitch, you have to change everyone’s belief system.

“Sven Goran Eriksson wrote about how Lazio had not won Serie A in 26 years [until he won it with them in 2000] and so he broke the links with the past because whenever they lost a game, there would be a former player who would say, ‘Yeah, that’s Lazio’. You have to get rid of that mentality.”

Pardew oversaw a run of eight league wins in 12 matches (Getty Images)

Pardew has been a major part of Parish changing the reality at Palace, notwithstanding the defeats by West Bromwich Albion and Hull City that have slowed his momentum in the last fortnight. Parish had known the former Palace favourite for years and believes that the severe challenges Pardew encountered at Newcastle have made him more valuable as a coach.

“Everyone is a product of their experience and, for me, Alan as a manager at Newcastle was a positive experience for him. Alan has been in a different situation, probably not the pick of the fans, maybe the owner has slightly different things that he wants to achieve [to what] the fanbase wants to achieve. I thought he [Alan] managed that sensationally well. Yeah, you could pick the odd situation like the headbutt [on David Meyler].

“I thought it was a bit overblown given the things other managers have done, like the James McArthur situation [when he was grabbed by the throat by Nigel Pearson]. Nigel was very fortunate that was James, who is a top lad. The game was going on and he’s got hold of him!

“It felt right with [Palace and] Alan and it was a question of picking the right moment. I sensed it had run its course at Newcastle.”

Parish would like to build a new main stand at Selhurst Park (Getty Images)

Parish works full-time now as Palace chairman and his business acumen is used in part to leverage the Palace brand in the new international battleground of social media. The idea is to develop the south London identity of Palace, the club’s rich history of developing young players, the vibrancy of the stadium on matchdays, while casting off the old failings.

He would like to build a new main stand to replace the radically outdated structure at Selhurst Park and is still considering outside investment. At one point it looked as if that might come from the American private equity investor Josh Harris, who owns US sports franchises, but that has been parked for now. Parish says that it “has to be right” for him and his three co-chairmen, who each have a 25 per cent share.

As the new £5.13bn television deal approaches next year he is unconvinced by West Ham’s promise to be the first club to drop ticket prices a season from now in their new Olympic Stadium. “Those ticket prices are what they need to fill a stadium they were given. If you want to impress me, drop your ticket prices at Upton Park next season!

“Don’t tell me you’re doing something amazing because out of the increased income from the stadium you were given you will give a little bit back. I am sure they want to make sure the stadium is full – why wouldn’t they? I think that’s a lot of window dressing on something that is sound economic sense.”

As for Palace, a better stadium is part of the plan. “I don’t understand how you can buy a football club and give it to someone else to run. In the end it can’t be about me, we have to change this club’s reality. People say fans moan and are not happy when you lose – well, I want a bit of that. We are not just happy to be here, are we? I have to make this club ready for when I am not here. I don’t want to leave and people to say Palace are doing badly. What sort of legacy is that?”

MY OTHER LIFE

"I used to race cars. I did the Carrera Cup first – I went straight from karts to Porsches at 40 years old, racing against pros. I had a big accident at Oulton Park (below), it’s on YouTube! My collarbone snapped and came out. That puts you off a bit."

"I went back to it but I was never quite able to throw myself into it. I did British GT. I had a horrendous season in Europe driving Renault Clios, front-wheel drive. I finished last every week. With the club it’s difficult to do it now."