Crystal Palace F.C.
| Crystal Palace's emblem | |||
| Full name | Crystal Palace Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Eagles (former Glaziers) | ||
| Founded | 1905 | ||
| Ground | Selhurst Park Whitehorse Lane South Norwood London England | ||
| Capacity | 26,309 | ||
| Co-chairmen | Steve Parish Martin Long | ||
| Manager | Dougie Freedman | ||
| League | The Championship | ||
| 2009–10 | The Championship, 21st | ||
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Crystal Palace Football Club are a professional English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.
Crystal Palace was formed in 1905 by workers at The Crystal Palace. The club reached the top division of English Football in 1969–70, and their first major final was in 1990. They were relegated from the top division in 1973 and once again in the following season. That left the club playing in the third tier of English football for the 1974–75 season, before being promoted back to the top level by 1979–80.
Crystal Palace's most recent successful period began in 1988–89, when the club finished third in the Second Division and was promoted to the First Division. They reached the 1990 FA Cup Final only to lose the replay against Manchester United, and finished 3rd in the First Division in 1990–91. Palace was a founding member of the FA Premier League (1992–93) but was relegated that season. Since then Palace has been relegated from and promoted to the FA Premier League on 4 separate occasions. Their most recent relegation from the top flight was in the 2004–05 season.
The club has twice gone into administration, first in 1998, which ended in 2000 with the purchase by Simon Jordan. His tenure also ended with administration in 2010, leading to a takeover by the CPFC 2010 consortium led by Steve Parish, owner of marketing agency Tag Worldwide.
History
Crystal Palace Football Club was formed on 10 September 1905 by the builders of the The Crystal Palace and initially played its home games at the cup final ground at The Crystal Palace.[1] The club joined the Southern League Second Division in 1905–06 and in their inaugural season was promoted to the First Division, crowned as champions.[1] Crystal Palace also joined the United Counties League, finishing runners-up to Watford. Horace Colclough became the club's first England representative when he played against Wales in Cardiff on 16 March 1914.[1]
The outbreak of World War I led to the Admiralty requisitioning the Crystal Palace and the club was forced to move to the home of West Norwood FC, Herne Hill.[1] Three years later the club moved again to The Nest due to the folding of Croydon Common FC. The club joined the Football League Third Division in the 1920–21 season, finishing as champions and gaining promotion to the Second Division. Palace moved to the purpose-built stadium Selhurst Park in 1924, the ground the club plays at today.[1]
The opening fixture at Selhurst Park was against Sheffield Wednesday and, in front of a crowd of 25,000, Palace lost 0–1. Palace finished 21st that season and was relegated to the Third Division South where the club stayed until 1957–58 when they finished in the bottom half of the table and joined the newly formed Fourth Division. This was alongside the other 11 bottom half clubs of Third Division South and 12 bottom half clubs of Third Division North. In 1960–61 Palace were promoted out of the lowest tier of English League Football and this proved a turning point in the club's history as promotions followed in 1963–64 and 1968–69, taking them back to Division 2 and then Division 1.
Despite surviving in the top flight from 1969 until 1972, the club once again experienced great disappointments when they were relegated in consecutive seasons, and played in the third tier for the 1974–75 season. This proved short-lived as Palace were promoted in 1976–77 and 1978–79 back up to Division 1. The 1980s began with relegation from Division 1 in the first season under new owner Ron Noades and this is where the club stayed until they achieved promotion via the play-offs in 1988–89. The club also reached the 1990 FA Cup Final, drawing 3-3 with Manchester United. It lost the replay 1-0. The club built on the success of the previous season in 1990–91 by achieving their highest league finish of 3rd and returning to Wembley to win the Zenith Data Systems Cup, beating Everton 4–1 in the final, their only cup win to date.[1] The following season started promisingly with Palace lying in third place with two games in hand on the clubs above them. However, following a programme on Channel Four called "Great Britain United", the then Chairman Ron Noades made disparaging comments about the work ethic of the club's black players, although he denies this and insists that his comments were taken out of context. The fall-out soon saw Ian Wright, the club's talismanic striker, leaving to join Arsenal and the season fizzled out into an anti-climax with Palace finishing 10th. However this allowed the club to become a founding member of the first season of the FA Premier League in 1992–93.
The damage from the previous season had been done there were few replacements coming into the squad and Palace went from being a mid-table team to one battling against relegation. Despite an opening day six-goal thriller against Blackburn Rovers which ended in a 3–3 draw, the players who had served the club so well wanted to move on, among them 1989–90 club player of the year Mark Bright. The club battled through the season and, despite having a purple patch in December, looked to have done enough as a 3–1 victory over Ipswich Town left Palace comfortably on 49 points. The only club that could catch them was Oldham Athletic, who had three games remaining and were 8 points adrift. Oldham Athletic then beat Liverpool and Aston Villa to set up a final day showdown with Southampton while Palace went to Highbury to face Arsenal. Former player Ian Wright scored the opening goal in a 3–0 win while Oldham beat Southampton to condemn The Eagles to relegation. The club immediately returned to the FA Premier League in the following season after the resignation of manager Steve Coppell. Alan Smith, Coppell's assistant at the club, took over but he was unable to keep the club up and they was relegated once again. In an interesting turn of events, Coppell returned as manager following the sacking of Smith. Coppell was unable to take the club back to the FA Premier League at the first time of asking, losing in extra time to Leicester City the play-off final.
The following season Coppell was successful in taking the club back to the Premier League. However in true yo-yo club fashion the club was relegated back to the First Division for the 1998–99 season. This began worrying times for the club as it was plunged into administration when owner Mark Goldberg was unable to sustain his financial backing of the club.[2]
The next owner was entrepreneur Simon Jordan, who had made his money as an owner of Pocket Phone Shop. The club spent much of its time in the Championship over the next 10 years with a brief spell in the Premier League during 2004/05, but the club went straight back down on the last day of the season. Jordan was unable to put the club on a sound financial footing after 2008, and the club was subject to transfer embargoes. Palace were placed in administration once again in January 2010, owing Jordan himself around £20m. The Football League's regulations saw the Eagles deducted ten points, and they were forced to sell key players including Victor Moses and José Fonte. Survival in The Championship was only secured on the final day of the season after a memorable 2–2 draw at Sheffield Wednesday.
During the close season CPFC 2010, a consortium consisting of several wealthy fans successfully negotiated the purchase of the club stadium. Led by Steve Parish, the vocal representative for a consortium that included Jeremy Hosking, CPFC 2010 eventually secured a deal for the football club itself, with Parish becoming chairman. Crucially, CPFC 2010 also secured the freehold of the ground, the consortium paying tribute to a fans' campaign which helped pressure Lloyds bank into selling the ground back to the club. The consortium swiftly installed George Burley as the Eagles' new manager.[3] However a poor start to the season led to the club hovering around the bottom of the table by December. On 1 January 2011, after a 3–0 defeat to Millwall, Burley was sacked and his assistant Dougie Freedman named caretaker manager. Freedman was appointed manager on a full-time basis on 11 January 2011, with former Charlton boss Lennie Lawrence as his assistant. Soon after, on the 10th of February, it was announced that former Palace legend Tony Popovic was returning to the club as first team coach. This represented a major re-shuffle to help to push Palace away from the drop. Palace edged up the table and by securing a 1-1 draw at Hull on 30 April, the club was safe from relegation with one game of the season left.
Records
Club records
| Role | Name |
|---|---|
| Highest League finish | 3rd in the Old First Division (now Premier League) (1990–91 season) |
| Highest League position | 1st in the Old First Division, 29 September 1979 – 6 October 1979 |
| Record League victory | 9–0 v Barrow, Fourth Division, 10 October 1959 |
| Record League defeat | 0–9 v Liverpool, First Division, 12 September 1989 |
| Record FA Cup victory | 7–0 v Luton, FA Cup Third Round replay, 16 January 1929 |
| Record FA Cup defeat | 0–9 v Burnley, FA Cup Second Round replay, 10 February 1909 |
| Record League Cup victory | 8–0 v Southend United, League Cup Second Round, 25 September 1990 |
| Record League Cup defeat | 0–5 v Liverpool, League Cup Semi-Final Second Leg, 24 January 2001 |
| Record attendance | 51,801 v Burnley, Second Division, 11 May 1979 |
| Record transfer fee received | £8,600,000 from Everton for Andrew Johnson, May 2006 |
| Record transfer fee paid | £2,750,000 to Strasbourg for Valerien Ismael, January 1998 |
| Longest Unbeaten | 18 Games, 22 February 1969 – 13 August 1969* |
| Longest FA Cup runs | Final (replay), 1990, Semi-Finals 1976, 1995 |
| Longest League Cup Run | Semi-finals, 1993, 1995, 2001 |
| Longest Zenith Data Systems Cup run | Winners, 1991 |
* the run was split over two seasons where Palace achieved promotion
Player records
| Role | Name |
|---|---|
| Most Appearances | Jim Cannon, 660, 1973–1988 |
| Most Goals | Peter Simpson, 153, 1930–1936 |
| Most Hat-Tricks | Peter Simpson, 19, 1929–1933 |
| Most Capped Player* | Aki Riihilahti, 35 (69), Finland |
| Oldest Player | Jack Little, 41 years, v Gillingham, 3 April 1926 |
| Youngest Player | John Bostock, 15 years and 287 days, v Watford, at Selhurst Park (Championship, 29 October 2007) |
| Highest League Scorer in Season | Peter Simpson, 46, Third Division South, 1930/31 |
| Quickest Hat-Trick (League) | Dougie Freedman, 11 minutes v Grimsby Town, at Selhurst Park (Football League First Division, 5 March 1996) |
| Quickest Hat-Trick (Cup) | Danny Butterfield, 6 minutes, 48 seconds v Wolverhampton Wanderers, at Selhurst Park (FA Cup Fourth Round Replay, 2 February 2010) |
| First player to appear in a World Cup match | Gregg Berhalter, 2002, United States |
* Most international caps while at club
League history
- As of 1 June 2010
Since being elected to the Football League in 1920 Palace have spent the majority of their history in the second or third levels of English football (33 and 31 seasons)
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Note: For simplicity does not include name changes to leagues (e.g. Premier League, The Championship, etc)
- Seasons spent at Level 1 of the football league system: 13
- Seasons spent at Level 2 of the football league system: 33
- Seasons spent at Level 3 of the football league system: 31
- Seasons spent at Level 4 of the football league system: 3
Honours
| Honour | Year(s) | |
|---|---|---|
| Old Division Two / Division One | Champions | 1978–79, 1993–94 |
| Runners-up | 1968–69 | |
| Play-off Winners | 1988–89, 1996–97, 2003–04 | |
| Football League Third Division South | Champions | 1920–21 |
| Runners-up | 1928–29, 1930–31, 1938–39 | |
| Old Division Three | Runners-up | 1963–64 |
| Third Promotion Place | 1976–77 | |
| Old Division Four | Runners-up | 1960–61 |
| FA Cup | Runners-up | 1990 |
| Semi-Finalists | 1976, 1995 | |
| Football League Cup | Semi Finalists | 1993, 1995, 2001 |
| Full Members Cup | Winners | 1991 |
Players
Current squad
- As of 10 March 2011[4]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Notable former players
Crystal Palace "Centenary XI"
To celebrate Crystal Palace's centenary in 2005, the club asked Palace fans to vote for a "Centenary XI". The Centenary XI consists of players whom the Palace supporters have decided were their favourites over the history of the club.
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Although many great players were included, there were some notable exclusions such as Peter Simpson, John Jackson, Don Rogers, Peter Taylor and Johnny Byrne.
Many felt the Centenary XI only represented the latter years of the clubs history, with the oldest player represented being Jim Cannon, who made his debut in the 1972–73 season.
Player of the Year
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PFA Team of the Year
The following have been included in the PFA Team of the Year whilst playing for Crystal Palace:
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Staff
Current members of staff
| Position | Name | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
| Co-Chairman: | Steve Parish |  English
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| Co-Chairman: | Martin Long | English
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| Chief Executive: | Phil Alexander | English
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| Manager: | Dougie Freedman |  Scottish
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| Assistant Manager: | Lennie Lawrence | English
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| First Team Coach: | Tony Popovic |  Australian
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| Reserve Team Manager: | Dean Austin | English
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| Goalkeeping Coach: | Lee Turner | English
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| Chief Scout: | Steve Kember | English
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| Doctor: | Bill Jasper | English
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| Head Physiotherapist: | Alex Manos |  Greek
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| Physiotherapist: | John Stannard | English
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| Performance Analyst: | Ben Stevens | English
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| Kit Man: | Brian Rogers | English
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| Academy Manager/Under 18 Coach: | Gary Issott | English
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| Assistant Academy Manager: | David Muir | English
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| Academy Physiotherapist: | Vacant | |
| Communications Manager: | Terry Byfield | English
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| Designer: | Robert Deacon | English
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Notable former managers
The following managers have all at least one honour when in charge of Crystal Palace:
| Name | Nationality | Period | Played | Win | Draw | Lose | Win ratio | Honours | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | To | ||||||||
| Edmund Goodman | England
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1907 | 1925 | 613 | 242 | 166 | 205 | 39.48 | Football League Third Division South champions |
| Fred Mavin | England
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1927 | 1930 | 132 | 63 | 33 | 36 | 47.73 | Football League Third Division South runners-up |
| Jack Tresadern | England
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1930 | 1935 | 213 | 98 | 44 | 71 | 46.01 | Football League Third Division South runners-up |
| Tom Bromilow | England
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1935 | 1938 | 162 | 71 | 40 | 51 | 43.83 | Football League Third Division South runners-up |
| Arthur Rowe | England
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1960 | 1962 | 132 | 52 | 32 | 48 | 39.39 | Football League Fourth Division runners-up |
| 1966 | 1966 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 28.57 | |||
| Dick Graham | England
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1963 | 1964 | 150 | 68 | 41 | 41 | 45.33 | Football League Third Division runners-up |
| Bert Head | England
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1963 | 1964 | 328 | 101 | 96 | 131 | 30.79 | Football League Second Division runners-up |
| Terry Venables | England
|
1976 | 1980 | 189 | 69 | 68 | 52 | 36.51 | Football League Second Division champions, Football League Third Division third place promotion |
| 1998 | 1999 | 31 | 11 | 8 | 12 | 35.48 | |||
| Steve Coppell | England
|
1984 | 1993 | 442 | 179 | 113 | 150 | 40.50 | Football League First Division play-off winners, Football League Second Division play-off winners, FA Cup runners-up, Full Members Cup winners |
| 1995 | 1996 | 32 | 9 | 14 | 9 | 28.13 | |||
| 1997 | 1998 | 51 | 16 | 13 | 22 | 31.37 | |||
| 1999 | 2000 | 40 | 17 | 6 | 17 | 42.50 | |||
| Alan Smith | England
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1993 | 1995 | 108 | 48 | 25 | 35 | 44.44 | Football League First Division champions |
| 2000 | 2001 | 55 | 14 | 18 | 23 | 25.45 | |||
| Iain Dowie |  Northern Ireland
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2003 | 2006 | 123 | 50 | 29 | 44 | 40.65 | Football League First Division play-off winners |
Grounds
 | |
| Full name | Selhurst Park Stadium |
|---|---|
| Location | South Norwood, London |
| Coordinates | 51°23′54″N 0°5′8″W / 51.39833°N 0.08556°W |
| Owner | CPFC 2010 |
| Capacity | 26,309 |
| Field size | 110 x 74 yards |
| Construction | |
| Built | 1924 |
| Construction cost | £30,000 |
| Architect | Archibald Leitch |
Selhurst Park is the current home ground of Crystal Palace Football Club. Its present capacity is 26,309 and is located in the London suburb of South Norwood in the Borough of Croydon.
Crystal Palace National Sports Centre was the first home of Crystal Palace. In 1905, the owners wanted a professional club to play at the venue, so a new Crystal Palace FC, was formed. It was previously the home of the original Crystal Palace football club from 1861. It also hosted the FA Cup final from 1895 to 1914 as well as other sports.
They were forced to leave the National Sports Centre by the military in 1914 as it was to be used for World War I purposes. Palace, then moved to the Velodrome which was temporarily the home of Crystal Palace F.C. from 1914 until 1918. In 1918, the club then moved to The Nest opposite Selhurst Station.
In 1924 the club built a new state-of-the-art ground, Selhurst Park which is still their home today. The record attendance in Selhurst Park was achieved in 1979, when 51,801 people saw Crystal Palace defeat Burnley 2–0 to clinch the Second Division championship.
On 20 January 2011, Palace owners CPFC 2010 unveiled plans for a new stadia in the Crystal Palace park - their original home. Should permission be granted. They will build a 25000/40000 all seater capacity depending on the clubs position at the time of building. It includes an aquatic centre and a separate running track, the stadium is predicted to be ready in 2015.
Rivalry
Crystal Palace have a number of rivalries. The most prominent rivalries are with Brighton & Hove Albion and Millwall.
In an extensive census on FootballFansCensus.com in December 2003, the surveyed fans placed Brighton & Hove Albion as the main rival of Crystal Palace, followed by Millwall and then Charlton Athletic.[5]
Brighton rivalry
Palace and Brighton are over 40 miles apart and their rivalry did not develop until Palace's relegation to the Third Division in 1974. The clubs had two of the division's biggest followings, communications between Croydon and Brighton were good and many fans were keen to travel to an away fixture. The rivalry reached a climax when the two teams were drawn together in the First Round of the FA Cup in 1976. The first game took place on 20 November at the Goldstone Ground, and Rachid Harkouk came off the bench to score a stunning equaliser and take the match to a replay after a 2–2 draw. Back at Selhurst Park the replay ended up 1–1, with Rachid Harkouk scoring the goal. This meant a second replay being held at Stamford Bridge. The second and final replay ended 1–0 to Palace, with Phil Holder grabbing the only goal but only after a disputed Brian Horton penalty miss. Horton had scored with his first attempt, but the referee ordered the kick to be retaken, which he missed. Brighton supporters and Brighton manager Alan Mullery were understandably outraged, with Palace fans not surprisingly jubilant. Alan Mullery disparaged Palace fans, an act never forgotten by fans of that time, and made his appointment as manager a few years later all the more surprising. However, the two did not play in a league encounter between 1988 and 2002, leading to a lull in the rivalry, and Palace fans turning their attentions to neighbours Millwall during the 1990s. However, the return of Brighton to the second tier saw Brighton lose to Palace 5–0 in a memorable game with Andy Johnson scoring a hat-trick. [6]
Millwall rivalry
The nearest professional club to Palace (6 miles away), Millwall have also been a long standing rival since the 1950s. Because of the close proximity a lot of players have also moved between the clubs, for example Derek Possee, Anton Otulakowski, Chris Armstrong, Andy Roberts, Phil Barber, Jamie Moralee, Bobby Bowry, Darren Ward, Tony Craig, Carl Veart, David Martin, Lewis Grabban, Ricky Newman and Matthew Lawrence. [7]
Charlton Athletic rivalry
As the next nearest professional club to Palace (10 miles away), Charlton Athletic have developed a rivalry with Palace due to ground sharing at Selhurst Park in the late 80's and the close proximity of the clubs.
Shirt sponsors
| Year | Kit Manufacturer | Shirt Sponsor |
|---|---|---|
| 1975–77 | Umbro | None |
| 1977–80 | Admiral Sportswear | |
| 1980–83 | Adidas | |
| 1983–84 | Red Rose | |
| 1984–85 | Hummel | None |
| 1985–86 | Top Score | |
| 1986–87 | AVR | |
| 1987–88 | Admiral Sportswear | Andrew Copeland |
| 1988–91 | Bukta | Fly Virgin |
| 1991–92 | Tulip Computers | |
| 1992–93 | Ribero | |
| 1993–94 | TDK | |
| 1994–96 | Nutmeg | |
| 1996–99 | Adidas | |
| 1999–00 | TFG Sports | Various sponsors* |
| 2000–01 | Churchill Insurance | |
| 2001–03 | Le Coq Sportif | |
| 2003–04 | Admiral Sportswear | |
| 2004–07 | Diadora | |
| 2007–09 | Erreà | GAC Logistics |
| 2009– | Nike |
* There was no permanent sponsor due to the club being in administration
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f Business: Club History, CPFC, retrieved 26 August 2009
- ^ "The Company File: Palace on the rocks". BBC News. 3 March 1999. Retrieved 26 August 2009.
- ^ Crystal Palace appoint George Burley as new boss BBC Sport, 17 June 2010
- ^ "Crystal Palace Current Squad". Crystal Palace FC. Retrieved 29 July 2008.
- ^ "Derbies" (PDF). FootballFansCensus. December 2003. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
- ^ "Brighton – The history". Holmesdale.net. October 2002. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
- ^ "Crossing the divide". Holmesdale.net. August 2006. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
- ^ "Crystal Palace's Kit History". Historical Kits. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
External links
Official Website
Blog
Match Day Radio Station
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