13-07-2000, 08:43 PM
Adder tomorrow:
NEW Palace chairman Simon Jordan this week put his money where his mouth was by splashing out £1m to buy two young Arsenal stars.
He has negotiated with the Gunners to bring Tommy Black and Julian Gray to Selhurst for the start of the season.
The move came as Palace’s first team squad began a nine-day tour of China. Manager Steve Coppell was aware of the deal but the negotiations on the players’ personal terms were conducted by Jordan himself.
He said: "Black and Gray are a ‘leftie and rightie’ and are both very attacking and very aggressive players.
"These two players have been on Steve Coppell’s list for some time and I’m happy that now we are in a position to be able to sign players, I have immediately agreed terms for these two promising youngsters."
Black, 20, a former England schoolboy trialist, made his Arsenal debut on November 30, 1999 in the Worthington Cup fourth round 2-2 draw at Middlesbrough which Boro won 3-1 on penalties.
Lewisham born Gray has already appeared in the Premiership for the North London side.
Chigwell-born Black joined Arsenal as a trainee in the summer of 1996.
Black was a regular in Arsenal wing legend George Armstrong’s reserves last season, scoring eight goals from 19 appearances.
He has also had loan spells at Carlisle United (September 1999) and Bristol City (December 1999).
Jordan told the Advertiser that he was confident this week that the former crisis club could keep hold of their out-of-contract players.
At one stage, with the club having been in administration for 16 months and with the ownership issue remaining unresolved, that prospect had looked unlikely.
However, Palace’s new chief added that he had "a few players still negotiating new contracts." And he saw no reason why the new regime could not reach agreement with Dean Austin, Andy Linighan and Jamie Fullarton.
Jordan revealed that manager Steve Coppell had handled most of those discussions regarding the players’ futures.
Jordan explained: "Players are in the business of gettting the best deal for themselves and we do not want players to leave us."
Regarding young striker Chris Sharpling, whose contract was also up for renewal, Jordan felt that there was "no issue there."
Assessing his first full week in the Selhurst Park hotseat, Jordan told us: "Things have gone fine. And it has been a busy week in terms of the first thing to do having been to get everybody facing the right way, but the staff have done that quite comfortably and easily and will contribute towards our efforts."
Jordan revealed that there are also another couple of players whom Palace are looking at with a view to signing. "The squad needs to be strengthened which will be good."
In addition, Jordan confirmed that Coppell still wants experienced Croydon-born coach Bobby Houghton to join his staff from Malmo FC in Sweden.
Jordan has already appointed Human Resources Manager Kevin Watt who starts work on Monday.
And Jordan is in the process of completing the redesign of the CPFC website, featuring player and statistical information. He is also attending to ticket sales and being "very aggressive" on executive box sales.
Explaining his decision not to join the team on tour in China this week,
Jordan said: "I have got business to do and the Palace players don’t need me over there.
"My Managing Director Phil Alexander is out there looking after things anyway. And there are better reasons for me to be here.
STEVE Coppell has urged his young players to make their mark on the club’s pre-season tour of China or their footballing education may have to continue in the reserves.
The Palace manager, who has been given an undisclosed transfer kitty by new chairman Simon Jordan, hopes to bring five or six new players to Selhurst Park before the start of the season. And that could close the door for the moment on first team opportunities for the youngsters.
"This tour is vital for them," said Coppell at the team’s hotel in Xi’an.
"The takeover was expected to go through just after the end of the season and the idea was to bring in some new faces, go to China and let the squad bed in. But for one reason or another, it hasn’t happened like that at
all.
"Instead, this could be a last chance for the younger players to make a name for themselves. We have a new owner who has made funds available for new
players, so there will be more competition for places next season. That means it will be harder for the youngsters to make an impact - they have to seize their chance now."
A number of players have been linked with moves to the agles, most notably the young Arsenal pair of Tommy Black and Julian Gray, and Coppell expects to see new faces at the club in the near future.
"If players are brought in while we are away, it is only with my blessing," he said. "Simon Jordan has told me the amount of money that is available to spend.
"He has not bought Crystal Palace merely to make up the numbers - he is a wealthy, young man who has the financial clout to achieve exactly what he wants to achieve."
"But it’s difficult," he added. "We haven’t had a scout at the club for 18 months, so we simply don’t know a lot about who’s out there. I can identify the positions which need trengthening, but we have missed out on a lot of the better Bosman players and are playing catch-up with everyone else."
In the meantime, the youngsters appear to be taking their manager’s advice.
Against Shan’xi Guoli on Tuesday they dominated against a side approaching
the end of their season who currently top their division.
All the touring squad, with the exception of Fan Zhiyi, made an appearance on a night when
the club’s bright young things eclipsed their much-fancied hosts.
"The result against Guoli was all the more impressive because we had been travelling for 20 hours and had to cope with a seven-hour time difference,"
said Coppell.
"I didn’t sleep well on the flight and I think all the players were the same. To have won so comfortably was very pleasing.
"We perhaps expected slightly more from them."
Palace striker Andrew Martin is facing up to three months on the sidelines with a knee injury which prevented him travelling with the squad to China.
NEW Palace chairman Simon Jordan this week put his money where his mouth was by splashing out £1m to buy two young Arsenal stars.
He has negotiated with the Gunners to bring Tommy Black and Julian Gray to Selhurst for the start of the season.
The move came as Palace’s first team squad began a nine-day tour of China. Manager Steve Coppell was aware of the deal but the negotiations on the players’ personal terms were conducted by Jordan himself.
He said: "Black and Gray are a ‘leftie and rightie’ and are both very attacking and very aggressive players.
"These two players have been on Steve Coppell’s list for some time and I’m happy that now we are in a position to be able to sign players, I have immediately agreed terms for these two promising youngsters."
Black, 20, a former England schoolboy trialist, made his Arsenal debut on November 30, 1999 in the Worthington Cup fourth round 2-2 draw at Middlesbrough which Boro won 3-1 on penalties.
Lewisham born Gray has already appeared in the Premiership for the North London side.
Chigwell-born Black joined Arsenal as a trainee in the summer of 1996.
Black was a regular in Arsenal wing legend George Armstrong’s reserves last season, scoring eight goals from 19 appearances.
He has also had loan spells at Carlisle United (September 1999) and Bristol City (December 1999).
Jordan told the Advertiser that he was confident this week that the former crisis club could keep hold of their out-of-contract players.
At one stage, with the club having been in administration for 16 months and with the ownership issue remaining unresolved, that prospect had looked unlikely.
However, Palace’s new chief added that he had "a few players still negotiating new contracts." And he saw no reason why the new regime could not reach agreement with Dean Austin, Andy Linighan and Jamie Fullarton.
Jordan revealed that manager Steve Coppell had handled most of those discussions regarding the players’ futures.
Jordan explained: "Players are in the business of gettting the best deal for themselves and we do not want players to leave us."
Regarding young striker Chris Sharpling, whose contract was also up for renewal, Jordan felt that there was "no issue there."
Assessing his first full week in the Selhurst Park hotseat, Jordan told us: "Things have gone fine. And it has been a busy week in terms of the first thing to do having been to get everybody facing the right way, but the staff have done that quite comfortably and easily and will contribute towards our efforts."
Jordan revealed that there are also another couple of players whom Palace are looking at with a view to signing. "The squad needs to be strengthened which will be good."
In addition, Jordan confirmed that Coppell still wants experienced Croydon-born coach Bobby Houghton to join his staff from Malmo FC in Sweden.
Jordan has already appointed Human Resources Manager Kevin Watt who starts work on Monday.
And Jordan is in the process of completing the redesign of the CPFC website, featuring player and statistical information. He is also attending to ticket sales and being "very aggressive" on executive box sales.
Explaining his decision not to join the team on tour in China this week,
Jordan said: "I have got business to do and the Palace players don’t need me over there.
"My Managing Director Phil Alexander is out there looking after things anyway. And there are better reasons for me to be here.
STEVE Coppell has urged his young players to make their mark on the club’s pre-season tour of China or their footballing education may have to continue in the reserves.
The Palace manager, who has been given an undisclosed transfer kitty by new chairman Simon Jordan, hopes to bring five or six new players to Selhurst Park before the start of the season. And that could close the door for the moment on first team opportunities for the youngsters.
"This tour is vital for them," said Coppell at the team’s hotel in Xi’an.
"The takeover was expected to go through just after the end of the season and the idea was to bring in some new faces, go to China and let the squad bed in. But for one reason or another, it hasn’t happened like that at
all.
"Instead, this could be a last chance for the younger players to make a name for themselves. We have a new owner who has made funds available for new
players, so there will be more competition for places next season. That means it will be harder for the youngsters to make an impact - they have to seize their chance now."
A number of players have been linked with moves to the agles, most notably the young Arsenal pair of Tommy Black and Julian Gray, and Coppell expects to see new faces at the club in the near future.
"If players are brought in while we are away, it is only with my blessing," he said. "Simon Jordan has told me the amount of money that is available to spend.
"He has not bought Crystal Palace merely to make up the numbers - he is a wealthy, young man who has the financial clout to achieve exactly what he wants to achieve."
"But it’s difficult," he added. "We haven’t had a scout at the club for 18 months, so we simply don’t know a lot about who’s out there. I can identify the positions which need trengthening, but we have missed out on a lot of the better Bosman players and are playing catch-up with everyone else."
In the meantime, the youngsters appear to be taking their manager’s advice.
Against Shan’xi Guoli on Tuesday they dominated against a side approaching
the end of their season who currently top their division.
All the touring squad, with the exception of Fan Zhiyi, made an appearance on a night when
the club’s bright young things eclipsed their much-fancied hosts.
"The result against Guoli was all the more impressive because we had been travelling for 20 hours and had to cope with a seven-hour time difference,"
said Coppell.
"I didn’t sleep well on the flight and I think all the players were the same. To have won so comfortably was very pleasing.
"We perhaps expected slightly more from them."
Palace striker Andrew Martin is facing up to three months on the sidelines with a knee injury which prevented him travelling with the squad to China.