I agree with you, SW. The Premier League is not the Promised Land. I trust that, if and when we reach the uplands of English football, we will have learned from the mistakes of other clubs (Bradford, Sheff Wed, Leeds, Palace, Coventry, Barnsley, etc).
We have been better off out of it.
Whatever happens to Palace, Jordan will come out of this situation smiling, even if he is declared bankrupt.
Kevin Maxwell was declared bankrupt a while back, but he carried on living in his big house in Oxford (where I live) and driving his flash car.
So, again, they have most, if not all, their debts written off, thereby giving them another head start over clubs like ours, which live within their means.
No wonder it has been difficult for us to compete with clubs like Palace.
You are absolutely right, the operative word being "never": not twice, not even once. And, with all our problems, we still played three seasons in the Championship.
Had we lived way beyond our means, instead of living within them, we might be where Palace are now. We might even have spent a...