The good and the bad of Palace’s January business

December is finally here and that means three things will finally happen after a year of waiting: endless repeats of home alone will hit our TV sets, the chocolate countdown to the birth of the baby Jesus has finally started and of course it is the start of silly season in the football leagues as the January window draws closer.

It isn’t time for my transfer prediction just yet, instead I wanted to dispel the myth that there aren’t decent deals to be had in January by looking back at Palace’s good (and bad) recent business in the Christmas sales.

The Good

Pape Souare

I’ll start in the immediate past. Pape Souare was a January 2015 deal that saw him make the switch from the French first division to Palace in a £3.4 million move. His first game can be describe as shaky at best and I remember reading some fairly damning comments on fans message boards after his debut, but he has put the shaky start behind him. From there he has kicked on and cemented his place in the first team, which was epitomised when we all lamented his absence while injured recently.

Dann & Ledley

Scott Dann & Joe Ledley both came in during January 2014 and have been complete successes ever since. Dann has become our undisputed first choice centre half, he’s led the team out in the absence of Delaney & Jedinak and has been so consistently good that there are ever growing arguments for his inclusion in the England side.

Joe Ledley has not been as prominent this season but in the first season and a half he featured heavily in the success we had, first staying up and then then finishing well under Pardew. The truth is Ledley’s been unlucky not to feature this season, but such is the strength of the midfield at the moment that even someone who’s been consistently excellent since he came into the squad is struggling to get near the team.

Kevin Phillips

Signed in January 2013, Phillips was a bit of a wildcard signing as far as I was concerned – he was a proven goalscorer but he was no spring chicken and with Murray playing so well it was hard to see where he would fit in. Kevin went on to score the fastest hat-trick scored in the history of the club, but this achievement pales into insignificance when compared to Phillips’ big contribution – achieving promotion with the club. It was Phillips’ that calmly tucked away the extra time penalty that returned Palace to the promised land of the premier, that penalty made every single success the club has had since then possible and that makes him one of the best January signings in recent history.

The Bad

Jermaine Easter

OK, I’ll admit that this isn’t really recent but I couldn’t resist adding him to the list. He joined the vast array of attacking talent that was at the club at the time: Alan Lee, Calvin Andrew and Steffen Iversen. Easter went on to make 13 appearance in the rest of the season scoring 2 goals and then 6 in 37 the season after and 1 in 8 the season after that – times change but Easter’s inability to score was immovable.

Shola Ameobi

What more can I say - this one really didn’t work out did it?