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Crystal Palace FC
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Crystal Palace FC Information
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| Address: |
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Selhurst Park, LONDON. SE25 6PU |
| Telephone: |
(020)
8768 6000 |
| Fax: |
(020)
8771 5311 |
| Founded: |
1905 |
| Stadium: |
Selhurst Park |
| Website: |
www.cpfc.co.uk |
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Crystal Palace FC History
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Crystal Palace Football Club is a
football club playing in the FA Premier League, based in London.
Crystal Palace was formed in 1905, with its headquarters at The
Crystal Palace in Sydenham. The team played in the Southern
League until 1920, when they were promoted to Division Three of
the Football League.
The club was forced to relocate from their original headquarters
in 1918, and eventually settled at their present home, Selhurst
Park, in 1924.
Nicknamed "The Glaziers" - a reference to their original home in
the shadow of Joseph Paxton's enormous glass exhibition hall -
Palace remained in the lower divisions of the Football League
until the 1960s. One of the most loved players of those days was
Johnny Byrne (deceased) who had the distinction of being the
first player from the old division four to play for England. By
1969, the club was a member of the First Division.
Unfortunately, the only constant in the life of a Palace fan is
change, and "The Eagles" - as they became known - plummetted
back to the Third Division in the early 1970s. Though FA Cup
glory beckoned for a while, it wasn't until the arrival of
former Chelsea star Terry Venables as manager that Palace's
fortunes took a change for the better. Venables took the team
back up to Division One for two seasons from 1979 to 1981,
before leaving for more glamorous shores than Selhurst could
offer.
In 1981, Ron Noades became chairman of Crystal Palace - now no
longer the "team of the Eighties" and suffering dwindling
support and mounting debts. Noades appointed another former top
flight player, Steve Coppell as manager in 1984. Coppell and
Noades began rebuilding the team and the club, and over the next
seven years, Palace enjoyed mounting success and a growing
reputation for nurturing intelligent, skilful young players such
as Ian Wright, Mark Bright, Chris Coleman, Andy Gray, Nigel
Martyn, Gareth Southgate and John Salako. The Wright/Bright
partnership up front was instrumental in taking Palace to the
1990 FA Cup Final and holding the overwhelming favourites
Manchester United to a draw. The replay resulted in yet another
win for Manchester United.
Cup glory followed in 1991, when the Eagles won the ZDS Cup.
Injuries, selloffs and transfers over the next couple of years
culminated in former Holmesdale End favourite Ian Wright scoring
the winning goal for Arsenal on the last day of the 1992/93
season.
While Palace managed to maintain a toehold in the Nationwide
First Division - occasionally moving up into the new Premier
League (and then straight back down again in 1995, up again in
1997, back down again almost as quickly), the club was
bedevilled by financial difficulties and frequent coaching staff
changes during the 1990s.
Following vociferous calls for change and much wrangling, Noades
sold the club to Mark Goldberg in 1998. Under the new chairman,
Terry Venables returned to manage the coaching team. However,
the club's fortunes took yet another turn for the worse, and by
the end of the season, Venables had gone (to be replaced by
Coppell - again) and the club was in administration. Despite
dire financial straits and the enforced sale of many of its
established stars, Palace's young team battled on to retain a
respectable finishing position in Division One.
Former mobile phone tycoon and lifelong fan Simon Jordan took
over the club from the administrators in July 2000. Jordan
replaced Coppell with former manager Alan Smith, and supporters
looked forward to a new era. Unfortunately, it was not to be and
Palace just about retained their place in the First Division.
Former Manchester United captain Steve Bruce was appointed
manager in 2001 and things looked quite good again for about six
months, as Palace fought their way into the upper half of
Division One. Then Bruce resigned to take up the manager's job
at Birmingham City. In a bizarre jobswap, former Birmingham City
manager Trevor Francis took over at Selhurst Park, and Palace
struggled on as usual. Once again FA Cup glory beckoned, but the
Eagles lost out to Venables' Leeds United in the fifth round.
The 2002/03 season saw former Palace star Steve Kember put on
the manager's sheepskin jacket once again, following on from his
last-minute caretaker's appointment after Francis's departure. A
run of desperately mediocre luck also saw Palace slip to 19th
place in Division One and the departure of Kember. However, the
team's fortunes revived dramatically halfway through the 2003-04
season when Iain Dowie, another former player, took over as
manager, and from relegation candidates at Christmas, Palace
soared into the play-off positions in April. On the final day of
the season, Sunday 9th May, Palace only needed to draw at
Coventry to ensure their play-off place, but they were beaten
2-1 and looked to be heading out of the play-offs until a
90th-minute equaliser by West Ham against Wigan deprived the
Lancashire club of two points and secured sixth place for
Palace.
Palace achieved a 3-2 victory against Sunderland in the first
leg of the play-off semi-final at Selhurst Park on Friday 14th
May. In the second leg at the Stadium of Light, Palace dominated
most of the first half and had achieved the very rare feat for a
southern club of almost completely silencing north-east
supporters. However, two goals for Sunderland at the end of the
first half, much against the run of play, looked to have taken
them through until Palace, who had squandered many chances
during the second half as well as the first, equalised through
defender Darren Powell in the final minute. The aggregate score
was now 4-4 - under the away goals rule Sunderland would still
have won, but that rule does not operate in the play-offs so
after a goalless period of extra time, when a demoralised
Sunderland did not have a single shot on goal and Palace to a
lesser extent were also playing for penalties, it went to a
shoot-out. The lead and the impetus in the shoot-out changed
hands several times, with a succession of penalty saves after it
had gone to sudden death - after Sunderland goalkeeper Mart Poom
had saved two penalties which would have won it for Palace,
Sunderland's Jeff Whitley "shot" one of the weakest and least
powerful penalties ever seen in such an important match, and
Michael Hughes then scored the winning penalty for Palace.
Crystal Palace played West Ham United in the play-off final at
the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday 29th May 2004 and
won the game 1-0, with a goal from captain Neil Shipperley that
was enough for them to claim the match, and with it a place in
the Premiership.
Due to a production error at Diadora's factory in Romania,
Crystal Palace's Replica Kit for 2004 was misprinted with
"Chrystal Palace" on the Quality Control label.
Famous fans include the musician Captain Sensible, the comedian
Eddie Izzard, the comedian Sean Hughes and Mark Holland of
Shadyside FC fame.
Most famous manager
The most famous manager of Crystal Palace Football Club is Steve
Coppell (born at Birkenhead in 1955). He had proved himself as a
successful player with Manchester United before being forced
into retirement by a knee injury at the age of 28. In May 1984,
aged 29, he was appointed manager of Crystal Palace who were at
the time a struggling side in the old Second Division. Within a
few seasons he had transformed the clubs fortunes and a high
quality set of players including Ian Wright, Eric Young, John
Salako, Mark Bright and Alan Pardew had guided the club to
victory in the 1988-89 Second Division promotion playoffs. This
meant that Palace would be returning to the top division for the
1989-90 season, after eight seasons in the division below.
The 1989-90 season saw Crystal Palace reach their first and only
F.A Cup final to date. In the semi finals they secured a shock
3-2 win over league champions Liverpool to secure a place in the
final against Manchester United. The first game was a 3-3 draw,
in which Palace's Ian Wright scored twice. But in the replay
five days later, a Lee Martin goal saw Manchester United lift
the trophy and the Palace players were forced to settle for
runners-up medals. The following season, 1990-91, saw Crystal
Palace secure a club record third place finish in the league and
qualify for European competition (UEFA Cup) for the very first
time. But key striker Ian Wright was sold to Arsenal for
£2.5million during the 1991-92 season, and Steve Coppell quit as
Palace manager in May 1993 after their relegation from the
inaugural Premier League. He took a seat on the club's board and
handed team affairs over to assistant manager Alan Smith.
By the time Steve Coppell began his second spell as manager in
August 1995, Crystal Palace had been promoted back to the
Premiership and gone back down to Division One again. But he was
unsuccessful in mounting a promotion challenge and quit the club
in February 1996, handing over the reins to ex Sheffield United
manager David Bassett - who helped the club reach the playoffs,
although they lost in the final to Leicester City.
For 54 days in the autumn of 1996, Coppell was manager of
Manchester City. The Maine Road club had just been relegated to
Division One and Coppell seemed to be looking forward to
mounting a promotion challenge for a Premiership place. But
after 2 months at the helm he handed in his resignation,
claiming he couldn't cope with the pressures of the job.
In March 1997, Steve Coppell became manager of Crystal Palace
for the third time in 13 years. The club was well on course for
the Division One playoffs and they beat Sheffield United in the
final to secure a Premiership place. But the 1997-98 season saw
Palace relegated from the Premiership with just two home
Premiership wins, and Coppell was again 'moved upstairs'. This
time team affairs were placed under the responsibility of Terry
Venables, with new owner Mark Goldberg hopeful of transforming
Palace into a European force by 2003.
Coppell was appointed Crystal Palace manager for the fourth time
in February 1999, by which time the club was struggling in
Division One with massive debts following Mark Goldberg's
withdrawal of investment in the club. At one point it looked as
though Palace would go out of business - less than a decade
after they had reached the F.A Cup final and played in European
competition. But Palace were rescued by new owner Simon Jordon
and Coppell secured the club's Division One survival for two
seasons until he finally left the club in June 2000.
In June 2001, Steve Coppell returned to management with Division
Two Brentford, now controlled by former Crystal Palace chairman
Ron Noades. They narrowly missed out on an automatic promotion
place and lost to Stoke City in the playoffs. Coppell handed in
his resignation within days of Brentford's failure to win
promotion.
Steve Coppell was named as the new manager of Brighton and Hove
Albion in October 2002, faced with the challenge of rejuvenating
a club which was bottom of Division One with 10 defeats from 12
league games. He gradually improved the club's league form and
although the great escape eventually proved beyond them, he at
least kept their survival hopes alive until the very last game
of the season - when their relegation to Division Two was
confirmed.
Since October 2003, Steve Coppell has been manager of Reading
who are currently well placed for a playoff place in the new
Coca Cola League Championship. |
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Crystal Palace FC Honours, Trophies & Awards
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