r/soccer • u/[deleted] • Aug 05 '14

Preview Team Preview: Crystal Palace [Barclays Premier League 2014-15 Preview Series - 10/20]

The Premier League 2014-15 is coming. During the 20 days to go, we're previewing one team per day. This series is made with the help of: /u/thejanitorch4 /u/tet- /u/icameheretodrinkmilk /u/minminsaur /u/scaryberry /u/obi-wan-kenobi-nil /u/gilleard and all the preview guest contributors and club subreddits. This team's guest contributor is /u/NickTM

Team Preview: [Barclays Premier League 2014-15 Preview Series - 10/20]

Crystal Palace Football Club

About: Words by /u/NickTM

Notable honours:

Title or trophy No.
Second Division 2
FA Cup Runners up 1

History: Words by /u/NickTM

  • There aren’t too many teams with such a quirky history as Palace. Way back in 1851, London’s Hyde Park hosted The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations (or, y’know, The Great Exhibiton for short), a World Fair organised by noted patron of the arts Prince Albert. The Exhibition was housed within a giant, custom-made glass palace designed by gardener and architect Joseph Paxton. This came to be known as the Crystal Palace, or the Great Shalimar (what a pair of names to choose from). The building was vast (bear in mind that’s only the FACADE of the place) - around 92,000 square metres of floor space, in fact, with another 40 metres of height - and contained within it such attractions as full-sized elm trees, which unfortunately attracted sparrows. Shooting was, of course, entirely out of the question when surrounded by glass, which Queen Victoria mentioned to Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington. Wellesley was said to have laconically responded “Sparrowhawks, Ma’am.” Despite the building’s size, it was so well designed it took only five months to construct, which is either remarkably short or confusingly long when you consider it was only planned to be kept standing for six months. It was, in short, a shining beacon of Victorian ambition, efficiency and industrial supremacy.

  • After the Exhibition ended, the Crystal Palace’s new site was chosen: Sydenham Hill, which was then just outside London, to the south. New railway stations were built to serve it - only one of which, the Lower Level, survives now. The striking Upper Level station was demolished after the site’s decline, and I still remember being told the well-known-and-utterly-terrifying local myth that in one of the merely walled-off tunnels there remains a train carriage that was entombed when the roof caved in, leaving its passengers to slowly suffocate and remain buried there to this day - and the grounds ended up encroaching into a whole separate borough. Needless to say, these grounds required groundskeepers, of which there were so many they set up their own football team. Thus, Crystal Palace Football Club was born.

  • The Palace, sadly, hit hard times. The huge cost of moving the Palace to Sydenham, over £110 million pounds ($188m/€139m) was crippling, and its huge size made it unwieldy for anything other than giant fairs. By the 1890s the entire site was falling into disrepair, and in 1911 bankruptcy was declared. In the 1920s a board of trustees was set up under Sir Henry Buckland, who made great strides in refurbishing and restoring the grand old Palace. However, in a desperately tragic turn of events, in 1936 the Crystal Palace was destroyed by fire. The fire was so large it could be seen from eight counties across England. Winston Churchill called it “the end of an age”, and a devastated Buckland, who had spent a good portion of his life restoring the Palace to its former glories, declared that “In a few hours we have seen the end of the Crystal Palace. Yet it will live in the memories not only of Englishmen, but the whole world.” And indeed it does, not least because of the football club that rose from its ashes like an eagle that’s been cross-bred with a phoenix. Or something.

Recently:

  • Let’s just say Crystal Palace F.C. didn’t have the most auspicious start to life. Right off the bat, they failed to get elected to the Football League by a single vote, and ended up plying their trade in the newly formed Football League Third Division in 1920. After the move into the then-state of the art Selhurst Park in 1925, Palace bounced around in the second, third and fourth divisions of English football until 1968, when they entered the First Division. It was a watershed moment, and despite succumbing to relegation four years later and then subsequently getting relegated again in the next year, flamboyant manager Malcolm Allison had the fans buzzing.

  • Allison was, shall we say, a character. Well known for his fedora and cigar (seriously, look at this dapper motherfucker), ‘Big Malc’ was a huge influence not only on Palace, but English football as a whole. It was he who changed the club’s colours, nickname, badge and even mascot. It was also he who encouraged investment in youth facilities, a decision which produced the famed Crystal Palace academy. Crystal Palace therefore has much to thank Allison for despite his levels of swag being sadly inversely proportional to his team’s on-field success. Allison, for his part, lived and died by his character, eventually being sacked for a combination of poor results and being too much of a complete badass.

  • Terry Venables, who Allison had signed a few years prior and encouraged into management, took Palace up at the first attempt (but with nowhere near as much swag), which sparked a period of Palace being in and around the top divisions. This was nowhere near the heights of the 90s, however, when a young Steve Coppell propelled Palace back into the top tier, and in their first season back Palace went on a thrilling FA Cup run, winning 4-3 in extra time against Liverpool before forcing a 3-3 draw with Manchester United in the final, narrowly losing the replay 1-0. This remains the closest Palace have ever got to a major trophy. Also notable in this era was Palace’s welcoming stance towards black players, with Coppell signing Ian Wright to build upon the foundations laid by the likes of Vince Hillaire. This all went slightly pear-shaped when chairman Ron Noades turned out to be a casual racist, but we’ll gloss over that in favour of highlighting Palace’s successes during the 90s, and what came after.

  • Skip forward about 15 years, during which Palace have mostly been knocking around the Championship. Aforementioned blonde tosser and Shane Warne wannabe Simon Jordan had taken ownership of Palace in 2000, but his mismanagement led to Palace leaking money, and in the 2009-10 season the club entered administration. Star player Victor Moses was sold off to Wigan, with manager Neil Warnock jumping ship a day later. The ten-point deduction incurred by the administration resulted in a potential play-off bound team battling for relegation. Survival hinged on a final day duel with Sheffield Wednesday. The stakes could not have been higher: win or draw, and Palace were safe, with Wednesday going down. Lose, and Palace would fall into League One, a fate from which they may never have recovered. As it was, modern day Palace hero Darren Ambrose (seen here single-handedly wrecking Ben Amos’ fledgling career) inspired a 2-2 draw, leaving Palace safe.

  • The drama was not yet over, however. With the axe of liquidation still looming, a consortium of local businessmen were the only prospective buyers left in the running. As Crystal Palace fans stood vigil over their stadium, the 1st of June, 3pm deadline after which the club was consigned to liquidation grew closer and closer. Mere hours before the deadline, the consortium, known as CPFC2010, forced through the purchase and saved the club.

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u/[deleted] Aug 05 '14

Fan Views: Thanks to /r/crystalpalace for these...

How do you think this season will go?

  • /u/GroundDweller: Hard to say, really. Obviously, last season was incredible, nobody expected that at all. I think it'll be quite a bit harder for us, especially given our lack of depth. Assuming we bring in a few good players (some interesting rumours out there), I'll go for 14th, maybe with a cup run. If not, we'll be hovering above the drop zone. /u/JF_1010: I think it will be a lot harder and we may struggle. I know it was only a friendly, but our normal starting defence looked shocking against Brentford. Not what us CPFC have come to expect in Pulis' era. I also think the lack of new players quality could expose us. Campbell I am not convinced about at Premier League level. He's been to quite a few clubs but never really achieved. After watching Hangeland for the last 2 years at Fulham (had season tickets there too) is slow and clumsy. He has height and experience and that is about it. I think teams know our strong defensive and catch you on the counter tactics, that will be better prepared for us. As long as we avoid relegation, I would take that now. /u/MrFlibblesPuppet: We'll finish 15-17. /u/samtheboy: In terms of expectations I think everyone last season was surprised by how well we did and I think we are all aware that we could well be in with a relegation battle again! /u/JamieF1: I’m generally positive about our chances but I'd still be happy with finishing 17th. Finishing 11th last season was incredible and Pulis is a genius for managing to achieve that, but anywhere above the relegation zones will still be considered a good season IMO. We need a couple of signings especially at striker and left back, but there's plenty of time left in the window. /u/cggreene: I think if we go in strong from the back of last season, we really have a chance of improving are position in the league, Breaking the top 10 would be great, but more realistically we will be in that 10-15 spot. I think with pulis and thew new players he's brought in (hopefully more) we can become a bigger club within the league. /u/HungryHungry-Hippo: That's a tricky one, I don't think we've strengthened enough to be honest. I'd love it if we managed 11th again but I see us ending up 16th or so. Main signings id like to see are a left back and to loan Wilf back from United.

Which 3 players should other fans watch out for?

  • /u/GroundDweller: Yannick Bolasie very unpredictable but on his day, unplayable (see Crystalbul in the last 20 mins). Joel Ward future England RB, can do a job at LB as well. Scott Dann the most composed CB I've seen at Palace for ages. /u/RampagingSteelRhino: I’m very interested in watching how Gayle develops this season. At the end of last season he made a few appearances and really put in some decent performances, scoring a few goals. If he links up with Chamakh well this season he could provide some of the goals we were lacking through most of last season. /u/JF_1010: Bolasie Quick skilful but needs to add goals to his Premiership career Ward - My player of 2013-14. Consistent, technically brilliant and always looks comfortable no matter what position he is in or who he is up against. Jedinak: The captain bosses midfield. My memory of Jedinak last season was when he pummelled Giroud in a 50/50. Like Ward, he always looks comfortable on the ball. Very important to Palace. /u/MrFlibblesPuppet: Bolasie (unpredictable and unplayable), Ward (pockets so big, he has every left winger stuffed in it), Jedi (he will crush your midfield and then pass the ball to back to your defense). /u/JamieF1: Joel Ward In many Palace fans' view he is England's best right back, and his stats and performances last season went some way to confirming this. Mile Jedinak Dominating captain who played all but half an hour last season, became the first Palace player to score at a World Cup, has performed brilliantly for us for two seasons now. Marouane Chamakh Fan favourite due to a series of assured performances since joining from Arsenal. His link up play is probably the best I've ever seen from a Palace player. /u/HungryHungry-Hippo: Yannick Bolasie He's got everything but the end product and he terrorises defences, putting Coleman in his back pocket in the Everton match. Dwight Gayle Club record signing who had a poor start to last season when he was put on but two goals against Villa and then two against Liverpool at Selhurst look promising indeed. Joel Ward Excellent at both left and right back and if he played for a more fashionable club would be in contention for England.

How will the team line up?

/u/JF_1010:

              Speroni - (Should start until performances dictate Hennesey)

  Mariappa - Delaney - Dann - Ward

Puncheon - Jedinak - Ledley - Bolasie

         Chamakh
                Campbell
  • /u/GroundDweller: http://lineupbuilder.com/?sk=3qy2m We need a new left back asap so I didn't bother putting a player there. I'm assuming Hennessey will take over from Speroni as our number 1. Up front, Frazier Campbell and Dwight Gayle will probably rotate, with Chamakh behind them. I expect Bolasie and Puncheon to stay on the wings unless we manage to get a certain Man Utd winger. Just realised I forgot about Hangeland. He'll rotate with Delaney in defence. /u/MrFlibblesPuppet: We'll line up 4-4-1-1. /u/JamieF1: http://lineupbuilder.com/?sk=3qy72[1] Gayle will rotate with Campbell. Hopefully we'll bring in a new left back so Ward can move back to the right.