Bent would be an excellent signing for Palace and just the sort of player you need to have a chance of staying up. However, it would appear, as usual, that Palace are trying to do it half cocked - on a dodgy loan deal , with % wage payments and survival bonuses etc. If you've got the money buy him and pay him , don't feck around.
It's like your ground improvements - you're fiddling around with replacing a few seats and dabbing a few coats of paint here and there. You remind me of an annoying neighbour who skimps on everything and ends up with a house that appears shite and then tells everyone how wonderful it looks.
I've seen nothing yet which doesn't confirm that you are still operating on a tinpot level despite the Prem cash injection. I guess with such a poor support base it's always going to be difficult for you.
I wish you lot would make your minds up. Do you want us to be financially prudent (as we are being), or piss it all up the wall again?
Palace are running two game plans, short and long-term. Chamakh and Bent (if it happens) are clearly short-term, as we don't want to cover the costs if we get relegated - I'm sure you will agree that this is sensible. We are also making long-term signings, such as Gayle and Campagna, who will be happy to play in the Championship, if necessary, with the aim of getting promoted again.
There's no point in spending serious money on the ground, it'll all be renovated in the future. The bits that are being updated, like the new seats, can be reused when the stands get re-done. Again, financially prudent.
Perhaps Brighton should consider having some sort of strategy, it could work for you. It seems that this year's plan is to copy what Palace did last year, by losing all of your early matches and bringing no decent signings in until the last minute. Will lightening strike twice, doubt it. Still, all your thousands of extra fans will help with those MASSIVE financial losses won't they? No?