September 10 – The Birth of Crystal Palace
IN 1905 a merry band of workers at London’s Crystal Palace decided they’d like to have the occasional kick-about, so they set about creating Crystal Palace FC. One of South London’s most popular clubs, Palace may not have the longest list of honours, but fans have had their fair share of personalities and drama over the years.
Palace were named after Joseph Paxton’s reconstructed Victorian glass building that was destroyed by fire in 1936. The club’s pre-1970′s nickname was ‘The Glaziers’, reflecting the link to the Palace, but they are now known as ‘The Eagles’ – presumably not at the request of Manchester United’s new owners. Back in 1905 Palace were based at Sydenham Hill, a site that hosted several early FA Cup finals. After a few years of moving around, including a stint ground-sharing with rivals Millwall at the Den they settled into their Selhurst Park ground, where they remain to this day.
As for trophies, there hasn’t been too much to shout about over the last 102 years. A collection of lower league titles and the now-defunct Zenith Data Systems Cup in 1991 are all that reside in the Selhurst Park trophy cabinet. A memorable FA Cup run in the 1989/90 season saw a side featuring John Salako, Nigel Martyn and young strike partners Ian Wright and Mark Bright reach the final, only to lose out to Manchester United in a replay. The epic 4-3 semi-final win over Liverpool saw many neutrals take Palace to their hearts.
Plenty of big-time players have been and gone at Selhurst Part through the ages. Ian Wright, Gareth Southgate, Andrew Johnson and Stan Collymore are just some of the more recent players who have plied their trade at Palace, with Terry Venables, Steve Coppell, Dario Gradi and Alan Mullery all having been in charge of the dug-out at various times. In one of the more random moves English football has seen recently, Attillo Lombardo and Tomas Brolin took the managerial reigns in 1998, but the bald man and the fat man didn’t have a scoobies, as the lingo round those parts would suggest and got The Eagles relegated.
See footage of Palace and Liverpool legends recreating their 1990 FA Cup semi final below in aid of Palace legend Geoff Thomas’ cancer charity, ‘The Geoff Thomas Foundation’. Keep an eye out for bombastic chairman Simon Jordan playing in one of his charges, and join us tomorrow for a tale of a lost trophy that doesn’t involve a dog named Pickles.
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[...] 1905 – The Birth of Crystal Palace [...]
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[...] from Aldridge in 1988. If you were wandering what was going down in south London today in 1905, click your mouse here. We’ll be back tomorrow, but before then – shameless plug alert – why not pre-order the [...]