IAN HOLLOWAY said that last week had been one of the toughest of his career – one in which his side huffed and puffed against a rampant Crawley Town side and in which transfer targets and potential signings opted to go elsewhere.
This is an entirely unusual environment for all promoted sides. The money they receive just for getting into the Premier League ultimately makes them easy targets – whether it's other clubs wanting a greater slice of the transfer fee pie or the player wanting a greater wage for doing the same job.
It's akin to someone winning the lottery and being expected to spend every penny they've won within a month of winning it.
There are other matters that need money spent on, too. The logistical requirements that come with being promoted to the most heavily sold domestic football competition in the world comes with a price too.
A new gantry is being installed above the Arthur Wait stand, new cabling is being placed around the pitch and new press rooms are being built.
There's more to competing in the Premier League than just signing the right players for the right price.
Whatever happens in the coming weeks, it should be remembered the purpose of promotion for Palace wasn't to get more expensive players and to break transfer deals.
It was a more deep meaning that drove the club to wanting to get promoted; the opportunity to never, ever have to go through what the club went through twice in the previous years – to avoid ever going into administration again.
So when the club don't compete for a signing, whether it's because the player wants too much, or the club he's coming from expects too much, we should appreciate that we've seen the worst situation a club can face, and we've seen it twice.
We've seen the whites of the administrators' eyes, the threat of a winding up order looming.
Of course, the club want to compete in the Premier League, and the prize of staying up another season is one too great to ignore, but being sensible about transfer deals and player contracts has helped get us where we are now.
That principle should not be ignored or forgotten, no matter what the reason.