Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace Football Club is an English professional football club based in South Norwood, London, that plays in the Premier League, the highest level of English football. Since 1964, the club has mostly played in the top two leagues of English football.

The club was founded in 1905 at the famous Crystal Palace Exhibition building by the owners of the FA Cup Final stadium, who wanted their own team to play at the historic venue.

Palace played their home games at the Cup Final venue until 1915, but then the First World War forced them to move out and play at Herne Hill Velodrome and The Nest. In 1924, they moved to their current home at Selhurst Park.

Their best season in the top flight so far came in 1990-91, when they challenged for the League title, eventually finishing in third place, their highest league position to date. Palace were denied the chance to play in Europe the following season due to the partial UEFA ban on English clubs caused by the Heysel Stadium disaster. It was during this period that the club also reached the FA Cup final in 1990, finishing as runners up after a replay, then returned to Wembley the following year and were winners of the Full Members Cup. The club became founder members of the Premier League in 1992. Palace have been second tier champions twice and have been winners of the play offs for a record four times. The club have also won two Wartime leagues and were inaugural champions of the newly formed Third Division in 1920–21. Palace have been League Cup semi-finalists four times.

In 1973, the club changed its original nickname from The Glaziers to The Eagles and introduced the red-and-blue vertical stripes now associated with the club. The club had previously played in claret and blue colours.

History

In 1895, the Football Association had found a new permanent home for the FA Cup Final at the site of the famous Crystal Palace Exhibition building. Some years later the owners of the attraction, who were reliant on tourist activity for their income, sought fresh attractions for the venue, and decided to form their own football team to play at the Palace stadium. There had been an amateur Crystal Palace team as far back as 1861, which was formed by workers from the exhibition building, but they had disappeared from historical records around 1876. The owners of the venue wanted a professional club to play there and tap into the vast crowd potential of the area.

Crystal Palace Football Club, originally nicknamed "The Glaziers", was formed on 10 September 1905 under the guidance of Aston Villa assistant secretary Edmund Goodman. The club applied to enter the Football League alongside Chelsea and Southampton, but was the only unsuccessful team of the three. The club instead found itself in the Southern League Second Division for the 1905–06 season. The club was successful in its inaugural season and was promoted to the First Division, crowned as champions. In their first season Crystal Palace also played in the mid-week United Counties League, finishing runner-up to Watford, and it was in this competition that the club played their first match, winning 3–0 away to New Brompton.

Palace remained in the Southern League up until 1914, their one highlight the 1907 shock First Round victory over Newcastle United in the FA Cup. 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 F.C. at Herne Hill Velodrome. Three years later the club moved again to The  Nest due to the folding of Croydon Common F.C. The club joined the Football League Third Division in the 1920–21 season, finishing as champions and gaining promotion to the Second Division. During this period, Palace also won the London Challenge Cup three times in 1913, 1914, and 1921. Palace moved to the purpose-built stadium Selhurst Park in 1924, the ground the club plays at today.

The opening fixture at Selhurst Park was against Sheffield Wednesday, Palace losing 0–1 in front of a crowd of 25,000. Finishing in twenty-first position, the club was relegated to the Third Division South. Before World War II Palace made good efforts at promotion, never finishing outside the top half of the table and finishing second on three occasions. During the war years, the Football League was suspended, and the club won two Wartime Leagues, the South Regional League and the South 'D' League. After the war, the club were less successful in the league, their highest position being seventh, and conversely on three occasions the club had to apply for re-election. The club remained in Division Three South until 1957–58. A league reorganisation would see clubs in the bottom half of the table merge with those in the bottom half of Division Three North to form a new Fou rth Division. Palace finished fourteenth – just below the cut – and found itself in the basement of English football. Their stay proved brief. With Arthur Rowe appointed manager, the 1960–61 season saw Palace gain promotion. Palace also achieved distinction in 1962 when they played the great Real Madrid team of that era in a friendly match to celebrate the opening of the new floodlights at Selhurst Park. This was the first time that the Spanish giants had played a match in London. Although Rowe then stepped down for health reasons towards the end of 1962, the promotion proved a turning point in the club's history. Dick Graham and then Bert Head guided the club to successive promotions in 1963–64 and 1968–69, taking the club through the Second Division and into the heights of the First Division.

Palace stayed in the top flight from 1969 until 1973, but then experienced great disappointment. Under the management of Malcolm Allison the club was relegated in consecutive seasons, finding itself back in Division Three for the 1974–75 season. It was under Allison that the club became nicknamed "The Eagles" and they enjoyed a run to the semi-final of the 1975-76 FA Cup, beating Leeds and Chelsea along the way. Allison was sacked at the end of the 1975–76 campaign, and it was under Terry Venables' management that Palace were promoted in 1976–77 and again in 1978–79, the latter saw the club crowned as Division Two champions. That team from 1979 was dubbed " The team of the Eighties" and were briefly top of the whole Football League in the early part of the 1979–1980 season, before financial difficulties suffered by the club caused the break up of that talented side, and this ultimately led to the club being unable to maintain their position in the top tier. They were relegated from the First Division in 1980–81, coinciding with Ron Noades takeover of the club. Steve Coppell arrived as manager on 4 June 1984, and under his stewardship and rebuilding the club achieved promotion via the play-offs back to the First Division in 1988–89. The club followed this up by reaching the 1990 FA Cup Final, drawing 3–3 with Manchester United in the first match but losing the replay 1–0. The club built on the success of the previous season in 1990–91 by achieving its highest league finish of third place in the top division. Palace were denied a European place at the end of that season due to the partial UEFA ban on English clubs caused by the Heysel Stadium disaster. The club had also returned to Wembley to win the Full Members Cup. The club beat Evert on 4–1 (after extra time) in the final. The following season saw star striker Ian Wright leave the club for Arsenal. Palace finished tenth, allowing the club to become a founder member of the FA Premier League in 1992–93.

The club sold Mark Bright to Sheffield Wednesday the following season, but failed to rebuild the squad adequately, and Palace struggled to score throughout the season. The club found itself relegated with a total of 49 points, which is still a Premier League record for a relegated club. Steve Coppell resigned and Alan Smith, his assistant at the club, took over. His first season saw the club win the First Division title and gain promotion to the Premier League. Their stay on this occasion proved eventful. On 25 January 1995 Palace played Manchester United at Selhurst Park in which Eric Cantona was sent off. He was taunted by Palace fan Matthew Simmons, and retaliated with a flying kick. Cantona was sentenced to two weeks in jail, reduced to 120 hours community service on appeal. Simmons was immediately banned from Selhurst Park, and found guilty on two charges of threatening Cantona. More was to follow in March, when Chris Armstrong was suspended by the FA for failing a drugs test. On the field, Alan Smith guided the club to the semi finals of both the FA Cup and the League Cup, but League form was a concern and Palace once again found itself relegated, finishing fourth from bottom as the Premier League reduced from 22 to 20 clubs.

Smith left the club and Steve Coppell returned as technical director in the summer of 1995, and through a combination of the first-team coaching of Ray Lewington and latterly Dave Bassett's managership Palace reached the play-offs. Palace lost the 1996 play off final in dramatic fashion, Steve Claridge scoring a last minute goal for Leicester City to win the tie 2–1. The following season saw Coppell take charge as first-team manager when Dave Bassett departed for Nottingham Forest in early 1997 The club was successful in the play-offs at the second time of asking when the club defeated Sheffield United in the final at Wembley.

This stay in the Premier League was no more successful than the previous two, and in true yo-yo club fashion the club was relegated back to the First Division for the 1998–99 season. The club competed in European competition during the summer when they played in the UEFA Intertoto Cup. Palace then went into administration in 1999, when owner Mark Goldberg was unable to sustain his financial backing of the club. The club emerged from administration under the ownership of Simon Jordan, and Steve Coppell left the club, replaced by Alan Smith for a second time. The club flirted with relegation in Jordan's first season, 2000–01. Smith was sacked in April and Steve Kember managed to win the two remaining fixtures that would guarantee survival, Dougie Freedman scoring the winner in a 1–0 victory over Stockport County in the 87th minute on the final day of the season. Steve Bruce was appointed manager for the 2001–02 season. A good start to the season gave Palace hope for a promotion challenge, but Bruce attempted to walk out on the club after just four months at the helm to take charge of Birmingham City. After a short spell on 'gardening leave', Bruce was eventually allowed to join Birmingham, succeeded by Trevor Francis, who had ironically been his predecessor at the Midlands club.

Under Francis, Palace finished mid-table for two successive seasons, and Francis left to be replaced by long-serving coach Steve Kember. Kember guided Palace to victories in their opening three games of the 2003–04 First Division campaign, which put Palace at the top of the table, but he was sacked in November after a terrible loss of form saw the team slip towards the relegation zone. Iain Dowie was appointed manager and guided the club to the play-offs, securing promotion with a 1–0 victory over West Ham. Again Palace could not maintain their footing in the top tier and were relegated on the last day of the season after drawing at local rivals Charlton Athletic.

Jordan was unable to put the club on a sound financial footing after 2008, and in January 2010 the club was once again placed in administration, this time by a creditor. The Football League's regulations saw the Eagles deducted ten points, and the administrators was forced to sell key players including Victor Moses and José Fonte. Neil Warnock had also departed as manager in the early part of 2010. He had taken over as manager in 2007, replacing Peter Taylor who had a brief spell as manager. Paul Hart took over as caretaker manager for the final weeks of the season. Survival in The Championship was only secured on the final day of the season after a memorable 2–2 draw at Sheffield Wednesday, which was itself relegated as a result.

During the close season CPFC 2010, a consortium consisting of several wealthy fans successfully negotiated the purchase of the club. Led by Steve Parish, the vocal representative for a consortium of four that also included Stephen Browett, Jeremy Hosking and Martin Long. 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. However a poor start to the season saw 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. Palace moved up the table and by securing a 1–1 draw at Hull City on 30 April, the club was safe from relegation with one game of the season left. After another year and a half as manager, Freedman departed to manage Bolton Wanderers on 23 October 2012,

In November 2012, Ian Holloway became the club's manager. He guided Palace to the Premier League after an 8-year absence by defeating Watford 1–0 in the Championship Play-Off Final at the new Wembley. On 23 October 2013, Holloway left his post as manager on mutual consent terms. This came after only managing one win in the first nine games of the 2013–14 season. Assistant manager Keith Millen was named caretaker manager while Palace searched for a new manager. On 23 November 2013, former Stoke City boss Tony Pulis was confirmed as the new manager of Crystal Palace. On 19 April 2014, Crystal Palace ensured they were mathematically safe from relegation from the Premier League for the first time in five attempts. Pulis resigned on 14 August 2014, just two days before the start of the 2014–2015 season and was replaced by Neil Warnock who returned to the club for a second spell as manager. However, Warnock was sacked by the club at Christmas after a poor run of results. On 2 January 2015, former Palace player Alan Pardew was confirmed as the new manager, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract with the club after a compensation package of £3.5 million was agreed with Newcastle United. Two days later, in his first match in charge, Palace won 4–0 away to Conference club Dover Athletic in the third round of the FA Cup. Pardew then guided the club to comfortable mid-table safety and a third consecutive season in the Premier League. During the following season, on the 11 March 2016, Pardew led Palace to a 2-0 FA Cup sixth round win away at Reading, which secured their first FA Cup semi-final in two decades.