Be Careful What You Wish For

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His passion for Crystal Palace shines through, yet he certainly seemed to be saddled with a thankless task, fraught with obstacles, arguments, and disputes at every turn.

What follows is a rollercoaster story of the inner workings of owning a football a football club, highs and lows, a refreshingly honest and throughly entertaining and informative account. It would be fascinating to hear perspectives of others involved to provide balance to a story of martyrdom.As of the 2005–06 season, Jordan wrote a fortnightly column for The Observer newspaper. A column in which he said football agents should be neutered led to him being charged by the Football Association with bringing the game into disrepute. The case was heard on 7 December 2005 with a charge of improper conduct proven.

The book is interesting because it opens up some of the behind the scenes machinations of the game, which it has to be said are far from appealing. Just like Ian Ridley's Floodlit Dreams, about that author's time as owner of Weymouth FC, Jordan's offering does not make you want to own a club yourself with all the politics, pettiness and egos that go with it.I am a very rich man without any money and I have spent the last two years dealing with banks and sorting out my other investments. It might not be too long until Jordan begins a new business venture. Speaking on talkSPORT, he admitted a desire to get into boxing promoting and could rival Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing. Having grown up as a boy metres from Selhurst Park, before watching his dad play for Crystal Palace, Simon Jordan lived the dream for 10 years as the Simon Jordan gained a reputation as a manager-killer early in his Palace ownership, though this changed as his reign progressed. Between 2000 and 2003 five managers departed the manager’s post: Steve Coppell (August 2000), Alan Smith (April 2001), Steve Bruce (November 2001), Trevor Francis (April 2003), and Steve Kember (November 2003). Of these, only Coppell and Bruce left of their own accord, with Coppell’s departure brought about by a personality clash and Bruce’s resignation leading to a High Court case.

With Crystal Palace being promoted to the Premier League this season this was a well timed read and I have a certain amount of sympathy for Simon Jordan who only three seasons ago saw his ownership of the club end in administration. It must hurt a little to see those who followed him take them to the top flight. Jordan stopped writing for The Observer in the 2006–07 season. He started writing again with his own column entitled “Simon Jordan’s Big opinion” in The Sun from August 2019 to November 2020. Television and radio

I really enjoyed reading this book and with Simon honest open account of his early success and sad encounters of the selfishness of the majority of people connected within football. Very enjoyable and interesting read for anyone who loves the game. You don't have to be a Palace fan to enjoy it, nor do you have to be particularly fond of Simon Jordan. While we do get to learn about how he built his multi-million pound fortune, the majority of the book is based on his work in football, and only briefly touches on more personal issues - which is good.