Hopkin Looking To Curl One...

HLTCO - 16/02/2012

2012-02-16T02:51:00.000-08:00

The world in which we live has, in recent years at least, become a place where short-termism is king.

Economic problems are apparently to be solved by massive cuts to public services at a moments notice in the hope that it will all work out for the best. The way news, music and pretty much anything else is digested has been squeezed into 140 character boxes or five minute time slots so that it can all be seen and done in next to no time. Elsewhere, in the always hectic world of football, clubs seem to feel under more pressure than ever to succeed all of the time, leading, inevitably, to a slapdash form of hiring and firing that sees managers lose their jobs incredibly quickly after a bad spell.

Seldom do you see a coach, at any professional club, given time unless he is producing miraculous results. There have been two high profile casualties in recent weeks in the form of Simon Grayson and Mick McCarthy at Leeds and Wolves respectively.

Grayson managed Leeds for just over three years, a spell which saw him get them out of League One and help the club to cement themselves around the play-off places in the Championship. At the time of his sacking, Leeds were going well in the top half of the table, but the decision to relieve him of his duties was given this explanation:

"We have 18 games to go this season and are still within touching distance of the Play-Offs, but felt with the transfer window now closed we needed to make the change at this time in the belief that a new managerial team will be able to get more out of the existing squad of players and make the difference".

Quite who the Leeds board, and perhaps chiefly, Ken Bates thought was better placed to get the team into the play-offs than the man who knew the squad inside out, and was prepared to continue despite having his captain sold from underneath his feet is anyone's guess. The fans reacted angrily to the decision, but, ultimately, they are helpless. Now the club have Neil Redfearn acting as an interim coach, and have lost two and won one of the games under his stewardship, hardly play-off form.

In McCarthy's case, it was fan power as much as boardroom politics that proved his undoing. With the team struggling for form and needing a good result at home to local rivals West Brom, the wheels well and truly came off. After going in at half-time with the score at 1 - 1, the home side fell apart in the remaining 45 minutes, conceding four and exiting the field to a cocophony of booing from extremely unsatisfied supporters.

During his five and a half years as manager at Molineux, McCarthy transformed the side from one with a bloated wage bill and financial worries on the horizon, to a well drilled and formidable Championship outfit with some prudent purchases and rather a lot of hard graft. He eventually got the club promoted as Champions in the 2008-2009 season, having led the table for almost the entire season.

Two consecutive seasons of top flight football followed for the first time in 30 years, but the relationship quickly turned sour when, after a positive start to the season, the points stopped coming. It appears that the latest defeat was one too many for chairman Steve Morgan to handle who made the change almost immediately after the loss. The irony of the decision comes with the news that, at the time of writing, Alan Curbishley is the front runner for the job, a man who was let go by Charlton when the fans had also decided that they needed a new direction, just look where that got them.

It is with this in mind that I look at our draw with Bristol City on Tuesday night. With a two goal cushion going into the closing stages it appeared that we were well on our way to a comfortable victory, but then, with 15 minutes to go, they got one back.

The lead we had built ourselves now looked flimsy at best. The home side got their tails up, and, after nearly three minutes of additional time, they got their second goal. It was infuriating, upsetting and inexplicable for all concerned. The rage I displayed in the immediate aftermath could no doubt scare the wits out of numerous small children and perhaps, even some adults. Things were thrown around the room, it was ugly.

After roughly 30 minutes of the full time whistle being blown though, my thoughts began to mellow again. Yes, I was still at a loss to explain how we had thrown it away, but I started to think how I would have felt had we come back from two goals behind to snatch a draw at the death. I would have been ecstatic, and yet the same amount of points would have been awarded to us.

We were awful against Coventry at home earlier in the season but got two extremely late goals, won the game, and everyone went home happy, regardless of how awful we'd been for 88 minutes of the match itself.

That's the nature of the football fan in many ways. Forget the decent points tally, great young players and stability at the club for the first time in god knows how long, instead using the hour immediately after the game to call for the managers head, slate the team for lacking "bottle" and claim that we are going to be relegated even though we are sitting in 14th position.

The next morning, the anger has always cooled somewhat, with many having had time to rationalise the result in their own heads. When it comes down to it, this season will not be remembered for us losing a two goal lead at Ashton Gate, but it will be seen as the time which saw Freedman take control for his first full term, steady the ship and start to seriously build for the future.

With that in mind, it gave me huge pride to hear Reise Allassani had signed a professional deal with the club earlier this week. Having seen him at first hand on two or three occasssions I can definitely vouch for his potential, and the fact that he turned down a number of Premiership clubs to sign with us shows that he and his family believe that Crystal Palace is the best place for his development.

As frustrating as results like Tuesday's can be, it is only one tiny set-back which we have been unfortunate enough to encounter. For the foreesable future the club won't be allowing short-termism to take over our thought processes, so try and put the disappointment of Ashton Gate behind you and focus on what Reise will be doing to defences along with Zaha, Scannell, Williams and the rest, for years to come.

Until next time.

HLTCO - 08/02/2012

2012-02-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

It often strikes me that being a football fan, for many, is not about enjoyment, but the constant search for perfection, which inevitably, can never be reached.

Take our current situation, nearly two years on from the nightmare of administration, a club legend at the helm, league stability, great young players, four incredibly enthusiastic owners, a cup semi-final appearance, and yet the desire to find something worth moaning about shines through brighter than any talk of progress by a section of our support.

Quite regularly, people describe me as someone who looks at our club through rose tinted spectacles. Maybe I am, but it does worry me that, regardless of all the good things going for us at the moment, some people only ever seem happy when there are decisions they can voice discontent over.

A case in point would be our lack of goals this season, a subject which is gathering more and more worriers with every passing week. Now, I can readily admit that in an ideal world we would be scoring two or three every week, sadly, we live in a reality that is far from ideal. Children are starving, polar ice caps are melting at an alarming rate and Glenn Murray is not Superman.

Despite this, Dougie and his coaching staff have managed to turn one of the Championship's leakiest defences into one of the most solid in the last 12 months. At the time of writing our league position shows us as having played 29 games and conceded a mere 28 goals. As a direct result, we are sitting 15 points clear of the bottom three with 17 games left to play, thus giving a huge level of breathing room whilst we try and work out why we're scoring so few goals.

It's fair to say that if we were languishing near the bottom of the table and regularly getting battered by mediocre opposition my views on our lack of potency would be far more pressing, but if you want the gods honest truth, as long as we are keeping clean sheets and scoring the odd goal, my panic level is unlikely to rise above Amber.

For me, it all boils down to the fact that we are now one of those sides who are referred to by others as "hard to beat". We may not be a free flowing, attacking outfit, but we have developed a backbone, we regularly go into away games, set our stall out and don't collapse. We look dangerous on the break with Zaha and Scannell regularly receiving praise from opposing managers, and off the field, thanks to CPFC 2010's resolve, we are no longer looked upon by others as a club who take derisory fees for our most valuable assets.

I guess, what I'm trying to get at, is that occasionally, we all have a tendency to get bogged down in individual gripes without taking the time to look at the bigger picture. I have no doubt that by the time the summer comes around, the squad will undergo a number of changes, the personnel will be shuffled, and the aim will undoubtedly be to bring in players who give us a greater chance of scoring than we currently have.

I can't blame Freedman for the defensive outlook he has adopted this season, he did a great job in keeping us up when he first got the job and will have been desperate to make sure that all the hard work wasn't wasted by a change in ethos this term. The tactic of using two defensive midfielders is the embodiment of caution, but it has had the desired effect thus far.

With Joniesta making a rapid return to fitness following his broken leg, the spark of creativity could well return to our midfield before August, but if it doesn't there will be no harm done. We have a run of games coming up that I'm confident we will pick up points from, and with the mythical 50 point mark only 11 points away we could, hypothetically be all but safe by some point in March. If this is the case it would leave between eight and nine games of completely stress free fixtures to try new things out. Perhaps giving players such as Kwesi Appiah, our newly acquired goal scoring sensation a run in the side, or playing a more attacking formation to see what works and what doesn't, but that's for another day.

The main thing to always keep in the forefront of your mind in the next few years is that we are now supporters of a club who are fully buying into the idea that they are running in a marathon and not a sprint. We are not West Ham, desperately shelling out transfer fees in a mad scramble to return to the money league. We are not Br*ghton, jumping around screaming about what a great club we are and quoting attendances until everyone else has left the room or covered their ears. We are Crystal Palace, a club with a fresh start and a commitment to cultivating our own talent for a long-term goal. Regardless of whether or not we manage to score more than one against Doncaster on Saturday, I'm more than happy to be a fan of a club who know where they are going, no matter how long it takes us to get there.

Until next time.

HLTCO - 12/01/2012

2012-01-12T00:00:00.000-08:00

In recent years, the League Cup has come in for some awful stick. Shunned by the "big" clubs who see it as more of a nuisance than a credible competition, neglected by many supporters who would rather their team concentrated on Champions League qualification than winning a trophy, and given as much media attention in the early stages as a press conference to announce David Dickinson is running for Prime Minister, all of which just goes to show how narrow minded the majority of English football has become.

This season was talked about by everyone associated with our club as one of transition and steady growth. With Freedman entering his first full term in charge of the team, he took clear measures to ensure that everyone had their feet planted firmly on the ground. The team was young, the club was still recovering from the damage of administration and the new owners were still getting to grips with the varying requirements attached to running their most expensive hobby successfully.

Five months have now passed since those words of caution first left Dougie's lips, and this season has already been as unpredictable as any to precede it.

It was all going rather steadily until September, when we made our way down to the south coast to visit Brighton. There was no disguising the magnitude of the game for both sets of supporters, and with the opposition so positive about their team’s chances, it was almost routine for us to feel slightly pessimistic about ours. You only had to look at our record against Milwall in the fixtures recent history to give credence to any nagging doubts we may have had. Then something clicked, the lads, who were trailing 1 - 0 with time running out, got a break. Wilf jinked his way across the Brighton box, and let a shot go, it arrowed into the bottom corner and sent the travelling supporters, myself included, into rapturous celebrations.

Cries along the lines of, "This sort of thing just doesn't happen to us!" reverberated around the away end, we were back in the game and playing with no sign of nerves, then, nine minutes later Darren Ambrose bundled a 2nd over the line, thus increasing the feeling of bewilderment. No sooner had we gathered our breath before the night was completed by a certain Mr Murray finishing the Seagulls off in perhaps the most perfect way by netting a 3rd, no one could quite believe it.

It was a result which, although it felt incredibly important at the time, could not have possibly been understood in its full context at a moment so close to the euphoria. What it achieved was greater than a victory over a rival; it reignited a spark and belief amongst our supporters and players that had been gradually kicked out of us over the previous two years, thanks to circumstances beyond our control. The mind-set established following the 10 point deduction was one of unity against all odds as a necessity, what the result at The Amex helped to uncover was the pride and passion that made us feel like we could go anywhere and get the job done, because we had the ability to do so, not just the mental strength.

The months following the Brighton result has shown just how different the spirit within the squad is, whilst always retaining the togetherness and grit that got us through so many hard times when it was called for in the past, we have gone from strength to strength on the field of play. The emergence of Jonny Williams in the centre of our midfield, and the ever improving maturity of players such as Zaha and Scannell, coupled with the defensive solidarity of squad members like McCarthy, Gardner, David Wright and Nathaniel Clyne to name a few, has meant that we do feel confident of doing well wherever we go.

We have since gone on to beat Manchester United at Old Trafford when nobody gave us a hope in hell, with a performance that was far from smash and grab, instead showing everyone watching, that we are now an extremely well drilled defensive unit with the ability to hurt teams with dazzling moments of inspiration, as demonstrated by Darren Ambrose's sublime 35 yard screamer.

We have also gone on to wipe clean the statistic telling us it was 4,843 years since we last won at The Den thanks to Jermaine Easter's first half goal, which proved, thanks to our new found defensive strength, to be all we needed to produce yet another morale boosting victory. It was a result that perhaps, if we were to rewind a year or so, couldn't have happened, simply because of the collective attitude heading into the fixture. Those emotions which would have seen us settle for the prospect of a point before the game no longer existed, being replaced instead, by a feeling that we could go anywhere and do ourselves justice. We may not always get the desired result, but the key thing to remember is that the belief is ever present now.

This brings me on to the game on Tuesday night, a fixture which shifted a huge amount of tickets and had large parts of South London talking about the club again. There were sections of the national media that were sure the game was bound to be a come down for us following our "heroics" at Old Trafford. The facts remained, they said, that Cardiff were the better side. They were sure that the plucky little Palace squad, who by some form of miracle managed to humble United on their own patch, would run out of steam and order would once again be restored, but, as always, we failed to stick to the script.

The game itself could easily be viewed as one which Cardiff dominated. They imposed their style of play on the game for large spells, and often looked very threatening, but, as we all know, those things only tend to matter if you score more goals. As it happened, Cardiff failed to score any, whilst the side that were made outsiders by the bookmakers, despite playing at home, grabbed a goal just before half-time and spent the following 45 minutes defending the lead in much the same manner as they have been all season long.

The five minutes that followed the goal, was yet another moment of release for the supporters. The entire ground, which was rammed full for the first time in years, stood as one and belted out the "We Love You" chant with an enthusiasm not attached, as it has been so often in recent times, to getting the team up for the battle ahead, but simply to express a collective sense of joy and admiration for what Dougie, the team and the owners are doing for our football club.

We as a club, needed a season such as this one, just to rediscover, that supporting a team is not always about wading through endless weeks of disappointing results, and last minute heartbreak, but that occasionally, it is there to enable you to experience moments of sheer ecstasy that aren't tinged with an impending sense of doom. Last night, immediately after Anthony Gardner headed us into a half-time lead was one of those moments. We may go on to lose the tie in the 2nd leg at Cardiff, but the important work has already been done, thanks to the efforts of Dougie, CPFC 2010, the players and the supporters we have a club who can dare to dream once more, and that, when it comes down to it, is what football should always be about.

Until next time.

HLTCO 15/12/2011

2011-12-15T00:00:00.000-08:00

Having been to watch the future stars of Crystal Palace take on Everton at Selhurst Park on Tuesday night, I can confirm what everyone already suspected; we have a very bright future indeed.

Putting the result aside, (we lost 2 - 1 in extra time for those that don't know) the lads went about their business in a very professional and classy manner throughout, and, although the Everton side they came up against were extremely disciplined and well drilled, the potential shown from our young charges was a joy to watch at times.

Without wanting to single individual performances out to any great extent, the talents of Ryan Inniss, Kaddell Daniel, Quade Taylor, Alex Wynter, Kyle De Silva and Reise Allassani really impressed me at varying points and for a multitude of reasons.

Inniss, who is well known to a large section of our support, thanks to his involvement with the England youth set-up, really has an assuring maturity beyond his years in the centre of defence. Not only did he show a great deal of composure on the ball and in the air, he also demonstrates a natural sense of leadership whenever the time calls for it. A fact evident on numerous occasions when he was in line with me during the 2nd half. Without doubt, he is a very exciting prospect and definitely one to keep your eye on in the next year or so.

Kaddell Daniel plays predominantly on the left side of defence, and has, whenever I've seen him play, shown incredible close ball control and pace for a defender. Quite a few times during the course of the evening I witnessed him with the ball at his feet in what most defenders would view as an extremely tight position, before jinking towards the surrounding Everton players and emerging on the other side with the ball still neatly placed at his feet. He also appears to have a huge amount of energy, and as such, proved to be a great outlet in wide positions at all stages of the match.

Quade Taylor, who was partnering Inniss in the centre of defence for all but the last 10 minutes of extra time, produced a supremely cool performance in my view. Having seen him play at least three times in the past, I can't say that I can recall him ever playing in any other way. The role of a central defender can prove to be am extremely tricky one, with the threat of calamity never far away, but Taylor goes about his game without ever letting doubt enter his mind, always looking for the best pass, and making every tackle or interception with an impressive lack of fuss. It's a great quality to have as a defender, and it's not often you come across many genuinely calm centre backs, Quade is definitely one of them.

Alex Wynter, who got the goal for the team, demonstrated just why he is so highly thought of within the club, starting the game in the centre of midfield and chasing every lost cause going, whilst also looking good on the ball whenever he found space. There was one particular point in the first half when Alex picked the ball up on the edge of our box before creating some room for himself, looking up and moving the play on in a split second, which although it may not sound spectacular, demonstrated to me what great potential he has for us. It is that kind of decision which shows the maturity of a player, who instead of winning the ball and hitting it long for the front men to chase, takes just the right amount of time to evaluate the situation before executing the simple, yet vital next stage of play. I'm certain it won't be long before we see Alex around the first team set-up.

Kyle De Silva is another well-known name to Palace fans, having previously been a poster on the BBS and also being regularly mentioned by members of our youth coaching staff as an exciting prospect. His role on Tuesday night saw him slot into the centre of midfield and look superb on the ball at all times. Although quite small in stature, his balance and ability to manoeuvre out of tight positions with little to no room is in no doubt whatsoever. He was a real attacking threat at all points, and often found himself on the edge of Everton's box, having made his way through the centre of the park with no trouble. It must be said, that the Toffee's back line was extremely solid, and as a result it was very difficult to find a final ball but it was De Silva who often looked the closest to unlocking the visitors defence.

Reise Allassani, who began the game on the left side, alternating between playing as a striker and winger for large spells, really impressed me with both his first touch and his movement off the ball. For someone so small, and it must be said, he is still tiny, he was a constant thorn in Everton's side, especially in the first half, when he often found himself on the verge of breaking through the defence. He seems to be at home playing on shoulder of the last defender, and already holds his runs far better than Clinton ever managed. I felt we lost some of our attacking edge when he was subbed half way through the second half and with time firmly on his side, I can definitely see him maturing into a real gem of a player.

That is just an appraisal of some of our starters, and as I mentioned at the beginning, all of the boys who played impressed at different points of the match. For me though, the overwhelming thing to come out of Tuesday night was just what safe hands the future of our club is in. Most sides are lucky if they have one or two players come through every few years capable of playing regularly for their first team, we not only already have players doing that in Clyne, Zaha and Scannell but now we are blessed with a new crop of talented lads just a few steps away from carrying on the Palace academies fantastic success story for another generation.

The side were backed by a crowd of over 1,000 in the main stand, and with the Holmesdale Fanatics making their presence felt at all stages with their incredible vocal backing of the boys, the night was undoubtedly a huge success regardless of the score line.

Some of the players took to Twitter after the game to express their gratitude to the fans who came to watch, and also, in some cases to apologise for the defeat, feeling as though they had let the fans down. In actual fact, they had done the complete opposite, showing a desire and work ethic that all Palace fans love to see amongst our players. For a large portion of the second half the team were serenaded by the Fanatics belting out their anti EPPP song, (it really is quite a catchy little number) and without wanting to sound too sentimental, the fact that so many people had turned up on a cold December night to watch the lads, demonstrated perfectly, why it is so important that we don't let the big clubs and money men win.

The EPPP could well stop players of the calibre spoken about earlier in this piece ever representing our academy again, and for the sake of the players in question, the supporters and football in general in this country, that must not be allowed to happen.

Until next time.

HLTCO - 08/12/2011

2011-12-08T00:09:00.000-08:00

Expectations are strange things, one minute you're bobbing along, praising the players for their battling spirit and attacking verve, toasting every victory and good performance as if your life depends on it, and then, once you've had a little taste of success, you begin to demand it.

It's a feeling which can prove rather difficult to contain. No matter how much you carry on telling your inner critic that they should feel lucky after such a positive opening to the season, there will always be the nagging doubt that every minor bump in the road could be the beginning of a mammouth losing spell which sees the team relegated by the start of March.

Reflecting on Tuesday night's defeat at Oakwell, it would be easy to sound the alarm. With the team winless in its last seven league fixtures, and having been pretty comprehensively outplayed for much of the game, there were inevitably going to be worries raised by supporters, fearful of the club being dragged into yet another relegation battle.

It is those pessimistic souls that I am now calling on to take an extremely deep breath and observe the situation through the eyes of a neutral. It may be a well worn sporting rule to work by, but the table doesn't lie. We currently find ourselves in 13th position, seven points clear of the bottom three despite our stuttering form, a position that, despite our superb start to the campaign I am sure most would have settled for at this stage of the campaign if they were asked back in August.

When you also take into account the fact that so far this season we have managed to break our away hoodoo from last season, winning at various grounds around the country, including The Amex and Old Trafford. Have gone on a club record breaking number of minutes without conceding a goal in competitive matches and, at the time of writing, haven't lost a home game in our last eight, I really don't think we are having quite as rough a time of it as some people are making out.

Yes, the team looked poor in the second half against Barnsley, but the game happened to be our third match in the space of six days. The first of which was a physically and emotionally draining 120 minute backs to the wall epic against Manchester United. The second, a game which we should and probably would have won had Paddy not misjudged a cross into the box late on.

People can say that professional footballers should be able to recover sufficiently in the time frame to be able to cope, but when you factor in all the traveling and disruption to routine that a run such as this brings with it, it's hardly surprising that we failed to hold on to what was looking to be a valuable away point until the final 15 minutes.

After the match Freedman was his usual defiant self, going out of his way to bring the positives from the game into his comments whilst also getting a tad mixed up as to what constitutes an excuse and what doesn't:

"It was not an ideal start. It just goes to show how crucial the warm-up is, I thought after that we settled down and at half-time we deserved to go in one each, so I was pleased with the response of the lads. You don't make excuses because we're professionals but it has caught up on us injury-wise. It's not an excuse - Barnsley are a good team. The second-half performance was disappointing, but there are reasons for that. We're tired and we couldn't find that spark up front. A lot of credit to Barnsley - they kept going and they punished us."

It is now widely known that Dougie will never get too carried away with a result whatever the outcome. Following last weeks heroics against United. he presented a straight bat to every question asked of him with regards to his "tactical genius", simply stating that he was pleased for the fans and that, although it was a big achievement for the team, it didn't quite match up to surviving last season when he first took over.

Similarly, when he is asked about the squad after a bad result he shows the same lack of emotional involvement, letting everyone who is listening know that it is only one game, and that the team will bounce back. It may mean that he comes across a little bit detached in press conferences from time to time, but in essence all he is doing is keeping himself, and the club as a whole, grounded in the face of any extra confidence or doubt that may creep in.

We do have a tough run of games coming up in the next few weeks, but thanks to our start, we aren't in trouble just yet, and with the boys going to the City Ground on Saturday to play a very out of sorts Forest team, I am hopeful that we can halt the slump we find ourselves in at the moment before anyone gets too carried away.

As I said earlier, expectations can fluctuate from the slightest of changes, and perhaps we are now suffering from a slight overestimation of our chances this season. That being said, should we win again on Saturday all the doubts will float away and a feeling of optimism will appear once again. That's what supporting a team like ours brings to the table, an unpredictable and sometimes infuriating mixture of deep rooted fanaticism. Normally at this juncture people shout something along the lines of, "Go and support United!" but having just beaten them on their own patch I would suggest keeping the faith with the boys for a while yet, at least it's never boring.

Until next time...

HLTCO - 15/11/2011

2011-11-15T01:00:00.000-08:00

Having had a couple of days away from the blog due to this pesky international break providing next to no news on the club front, I return this morning armed with actual stuff. Not a feature on Owen Garvan's favourite type of biscuit, but genuine content, rejoice!

We start today with Julian Speroni, who has been speaking to the Croydon Advertiser about what he now feels are genuine play-off hopes for the squad given our fantastic start to the season, whilst also making sure he gives the appropriate amount of airtime to Freedman for his achievements so far:

"I thought this season was going to be a transition season where we would probably finish in mid-table, but given how we have started, and what I've seen of the other teams, I think we have a really good chance of making the play-offs. I think our team is very similar in quality to when we got in the play-offs last time. Over the last few years we have had quite a few players leave and a few come in. The thing is there is a huge amount of talent in the squad. The young players we have here are outstanding and I think we have added a few experienced players this summer that have made a difference. There is a nice combination in the squad of youth and experienced pros and everyone feels we are going in the right direction.

I'm really looking forward to the rest of the year and I think it could be brilliant for us. It is nice going into every game knowing you can win. People are smiling and enjoying themselves in training and I think that shows when we are on the pitch. It hasn't happened overnight but I think it has been a process. It started when Dougie came in over the second half of last season and we've been improving ever since. Every manger is different but the way I see it I think it really helps that he is a young manager. He has played the modern game so he understands the modern game. I want to play in the Premier League, but I want to get there and do it with Crystal Palace. We need to keep focused as it is a very competitive league and if you relax then teams will punish you. But I see no reason if we keep working hard why we can't still be up there at the end of the season."

It's not often we get to hear from Jules, as a rule he tends to keep his thoughts to himself, but when he does take the occasional plunge into the world of the media, what he says always comes across in a measured and careful way. He doesn't strike you as the sort of guy that will ever hold a club to ransom over a contract offer or walk out of training in a huff, instead giving off the vibe of a man who would rather have a nice quiet chat, and then settle down for a cup of tea and a muffin.

As a player who has been with us since the heady days of 2004, he has seen the club go through a varied array of ups and downs. Not that it seems to have put him off the place, instead appearing to have instilled a deep affection for the club within him. His contract negotiations last season were a major talking point amongst supporters, with many fearing that without him, the team would have sunk without a trace, they were probably right.

His view that the squad we have in place now is as strong as the class of 2008, which included the likes of Moses, Watson and Sinclair fills me with a great deal of optimism. That group, which admittedly couldn't be kept together due to our financial issues, really did go about their business with class, and if Speroni feels bold enough to compare our current crop to them, I won't be arguing.

The final few lines, in which he mentions his desire to play in the Premier League again, doesn't fill me with dread in the same way as it did last year. Having signed his new contract, and with his career now reaching a stage that will see his stock begin to fall amongst other clubs purely based on age, I can't help feeling that he really thinks we can get up in the next year or so. It would be a great thing for him, more so than many, when you think back to his calamitous Premier League career to date, to get another crack at it as the established number one with us, not that you'll see him throwing a hissy fit if it doesn't happen.

Moving on, we have a bit of incoming business on the transfer front, in the shape of Norwich striker, Chris Martin. The 23-year-old striker, has apparently all but officially singed on loan for us until January, a move that, given his lack of first team chances so far this season for the Canaries, seems to be a good fit for all parties.

It is a deal which, if I'm not mistaken, we were linked with briefly back in the summer, not that it ever came to anything, but I do feel it would be a decent move for us. Glenn Murray has been crying out for a strike partner with the ability to hold the ball up and supply him with some chances in recent weeks. Scannell is great for us, but no one expects him to play the target man role, consequently, Murray has been doing the majority of the donkey work for the front line of late, and it seems it is having an effect on the number of chances he is getting in front of goal.

Martin will hopefully give us the ability to mix the nature of the side up a bit from week to week, or even at different points in a game. It has been a worry for some fans lately that other teams may have worked out Dougie's "system" of playing Scannell and Zaha wide and Murray in the middle with the intention of getting the balls that are knocked in to him from the flanks. The addition of Martin could offer us the chance to alter the way we approach teams completely from an attacking perspective, starting with both he and Murray up front, and adding the pace of the aforementioned pair, or bringing him on late, allowing for a more direct route to goal than we have been used to this season.

I am going to casually overlook the fact that, back in the day, Martin was banned from 68 pubs for "fighting", and instead choose to look to the future. We all enjoy stupid things when we're young, some people become obsessed with wearing black and verbally bashing their parents, others decide to lock themselves away in their rooms for weeks at a time completing every instalment of Grand Theft Auto from beginning to end. It seems, that Chris Martin chose the route of smashing up a few jukeboxes and refusing to pay for his peanuts, and for today at least, I am willing to say "so what?". As long as he does the business on the pitch I will care very little what he gets up to. I just hope he doesn't get too carried away by the bright lights of TigerTiger on a Thursday.

Until tomorrow...

HLTCO - 12/11/2011

2011-11-12T01:08:00.000-08:00

With the last few days producing little in the way of news for us to look at, I am pleased to report, that this morning there is quite a bit to go through.

Although the squad haven't been preparing for a game this week, Dougie has still taken the time to write his weekly column for the Croydon Advertiser, within which, he has spoken some more on the fatigue that built up within the squad prior to the break, as well as his hopes for when we get going again next week:

"I'm pleased with the progress we are making this season but I think it is fair to say this international break has come at a good time for us. We've looked a bit tired in our last few games and I didn't think we had much left in the tank during the last 20 minutes at Cardiff. Our continued involvement in the Carling Cup has meant we have played a lot of games already this season, and it is difficult to give our younger players the right amount of rest when they are playing every Saturday and Tuesday.

We had a few injuries too at the start of the season which meant I didn't have the chance to rotate as much as I would have liked and I think that is catching up with us now. We've lacked a bit of spark going forward in our last few games and this is a chance for us to freshen things up again.

The break has allowed us to have a few light sessions in training this week while the players will be able to enjoy some time off this weekend. It's not just the physical demands of playing week-in week-out that start to take their toll but also the mental side of things. This league is very demanding but while having so many games is entertaining and exciting I don't necessarily think such a congested fixture list helps sides to produce their best football."

It is fair to say that the demands placed upon all of our players so far this season, not just the younger members, have been pretty strenuous given our involvement in the League Cup. It will obviously begin to have an effect on the freshness of the players involved when their recovery time is so small between each game, and quite rightly, Freedman has felt the need to address the questions about the lack of attacking threat shown in our last three fixtures by reminding everyone of this.

The mantra he regularly preaches is one of patient growth, allowing the young prospects we currently have on our books to be given the time necessary to mature into well rounded professionals with the help of the coaching staff and senior squad members. One thing that is paramount to that approach working, is for the youngsters in question to have the correct amount of time in between games to allow their bodies to recover, thereby reducing the risk of injury or burn out in the latter months of the season. Without this imposed break, there was a good chance that the fitness, both mentally and physically would have lowered dramatically, and for this reason, we should count it as a positive rather than a negative in many ways.

Yesterday also saw Peter Ramage speak about his desire to secure himself a starting place in our defence before his loan finishes in two months' time, although he admits it's going to be tough:

"The fact I can play in a number of positions has been a hindrance in my career. I want to try and push for a centre-half spot but Paddy McCarthy and Anthony Gardner have been brilliant so far. We had that long run without conceding and they were two of the mainstays of that. So I've just got to keep working hard and hopefully impress. You'd never wish an injury on anybody but I'm just hoping to get a chance and then try and keep the shirt."

It's great to see players like Peter demonstrate a genuine desire to cement themselves in our side regardless of the fact that they aren't at the club on a permanent basis. As he makes reference to, the partnership Paddy and Anthony have got in the middle of our back four really has been working well of late, and with Clyne having returned from injury, first team chances have obviously been tougher to come by for Peter.

With all that being said, the performances he put in during the early stages of the season were very solid. Admittedly, no one would have expected him to keep his starting place at right back once Nathaniel returned to match fitness, given that Clyne was voted the club's player of the year last season, but the important thing to consider when you analyse Peter's performances, is that we didn't ever look unbalanced in defence with him in the side, a big compliment when he was stepping into a role that was so important to our survival last season.

With his contract at QPR set to expire this summer, I would like to see the club offer him the chance to stay with us on a permanent basis by the time this season has reached its conclusion. Although he says that his ability to play in numerous defensive positions has been a hindrance to him during his career, I can only see it as a good thing for us long-term. With Dougie so intent on making sure that we have decent cover for every position in the squad, it is impossible to argue that Ramage offers the sort of versatility needed to have a successful Championship defence. I'd also like to think that his time with us has shown him what a good club we are to play for, something which, judging by his tweets to date, he fully appreciates.

That's about it for this morning, hopefully England can shock us all by putting up some sort of a fight against Spain at Wembley later this afternoon, not that I hold out a great deal of hope. I'll be back on Tuesday with all that's been going on between now and then.

Adios.

HLTCO - 11/11/2011

2011-11-11T01:00:00.000-08:00

Good morning.

News is still in relatively short supply at the moment thanks to the international break, but there are one or two things we can look at concerning the club which may be of interest to you.

Firstly, I would like to bring your attention to our midfield odd-job man, David Wright, who has been discussing his decision to extend his contract with the club, as well as where he now feels he fits into the squad:

"It's been brilliant here I am really happy. It's nice now to have the contract sorted so I can have the rest of the season without thinking about what is happening next year. We have been talking about it over a number of weeks and we could take our time and make sure it was right for the club. Obviously, playing in a successful team has been really good this year and it has been a brilliant season so far. I'm really enjoying myself in midfield and although I have played that position before, I have never done it consistently like I am now. I know my job and my role for the team - it is not spectacular and I am not going to be doing the things Wilfried Zaha and Sean Scannell do. I protect the back four and break things up and then give them the ball to do their thing."

"We had a hiccup at the weekend but, overall, if you said in August that, come November, we would be sat in sixth you would not have complained. I think there were signs of what the gaffer was starting to do and the changes he was starting to make last season. We became hard to beat and picked up results and it's been slowly building. The manager brought in some players and I think the boys have really taken on board what the manager and Lennie Lawrence and Tony Popovic have shown us. Slowly, they are changing everyone's belief in how good they are."

As I said when the news first broke that David was to sign a new deal with the club, he may be a player who splits opinion, but slowly it appears that more and more supporters are beginning to appreciate the qualities he is able to bring to the team on a consistent basis. Admittedly, he isn't capable of spraying 40 yard cross field passes or hitting volleys into the top corner from ridiculous angles, but he does play with a selflessness and discipline that makes him perfect for the role he now occupies in Dougie's match day formation, and that in itself is a blessing.

As I'm sure many of you would agree, the key to us being successful this season, is to make sure that we do everything possible to enable the likes of Zaha, Scannell and Williams to play their natural, attacking game. In order for this to be effective you need squad players who are happy to take on the role of water carriers, similar to the way in which Shaun Derry and Aki Riihilati have done in the past. David Wright is unquestionably one of those players, and judging by the fact that he is one of only three to have started every league game this season, Dougie clearly feels that the role Wright fulfils within the set-up is a vital one.

From the sublime talents of Mr Wright we now move on to the ridiculous, in the form of Andy Dorman. As spoken about yesterday, the Welshman has agreed to sign for Bristol Rovers on loan until 2nd of January. Unfortunately, it appears he hadn't quite grasped which division that would see him plying his trade in for the extent of the deal, saying, when asked about the step down:

“If I’m being honest I thought they were still in League One."

Far be it for me to start pontificating about what a professional footballer should and shouldn't agree to without reading the fine print, but you would assume that the first thing any player would think to do when faced with a proposed move to another club, would be to check where in the league table they were, maybe I'm being too shallow, who knows.

Either way, the shock of having to visit Crewe Alexandra instead of Huddersfield Town doesn't seem to have dampened Andy's spirits too much. He says he is just happy to have the opportunity to play regularly and try to move Bristol Rovers up the table, presumably to a position slightly closer to the one he thought they occupied only 48 hours ago. Who said modern football was all about money?

Finally, I'd like to point you in the direction of the League Football Education site, who have selected Palace academy player, Kyle De Silva's goal against Ipswich Town as one of the final eight on a short list for goal of the month. You can view all of the goals and vote for him on the link provided. It really is a superb team effort, regardless of the fact that it was scored by our boys, and I urge you to show him support and vote on multiple occasions.

Until tomorrow...

HLTCO - 10/11/2011

2011-11-10T01:00:00.000-08:00

As touched on yesterday, these enforced breaks in the fixture list tend to mean that all of the usual news sources who cover the club on a daily basis freeze up and produce nothing of any note for the entirety of the gap. Whilst this may mean that the journalists who usually cover our team get a nice few days to put their feet up, it can also leave blogs such as this one, a little bit lost when attempting to summarise what's been happening.

Having spent a considerable amount of time searching through every media outlet to have ever mentioned us, I'm afraid; I was only able to track down two points worth mentioning throughout the whole off yesterday's news cycle, leaving the length of this entry looking a bit underwhelming, sorry about that.

The first morsel of information came from the mouth of Dougie and made reference to our imminent journey up north to face United:

“We had Crawley and Wigan at home in front of 5,000 fans and people were saying we were going to get knocked out. It just shows if you win games like that with the right attitude, enthusiasm and work rate that you get rewarded. I’m sure Crawley would have loved this tie - and Wigan too, but we were the team that turned up at Selhurst Park on cold Tuesday nights and did the business. I’ve spoken and bumped into Sir Alex Ferguson a few times but it’s about me trying to prepare a team to give it our best shot. Then whatever will be, will be. If anything I’ve got to bring the players down because I know they’ll be prepared. I’ve got to make sure it’s a game where they go out and express their talent. I’ll personally watch every DVD until we play them and we’ll do an in-depth study and report on three games. By luck I watched the Aldershot game on Friday afternoon, so we’ll do a report on that match too. It’s a Carling Cup game so they’ll change it but I’ve seen their reserves play this year. I know one or two of them already.”

The comments as a whole are pretty standard Freedman in all honesty. We know by now that the last thing he is ever going to do is allow the players to get carried away by the pageantry and prestige of taking on a club such as United on their own patch, whilst simultaneously making sure that his words aren't so dour as to distinguish any hope of pulling off a shock when the time comes.

As he makes reference to, there will be little need to make sure the players are in the correct frame of mind for the match itself, with the main issue for him being the type of squad that he decides upon when the day arrives.

So far in the competition, he has given our fringe players the opportunity to prove themselves, with a few regular first team members sprinkled in here and there, and for the most part, the lads who have been chosen have excelled themselves. With the quarter-final now being broadcast live on Sky, the question has to be asked as to whether Freedman will stick by the side that have got us there, or make adjustments to cope with the potentially greater challenge of an under strength United team with the officials helping them out every step of the way.

Opinion amongst the fans is somewhat split, with half advocating the view that you should always play your strongest team, whilst others feel it necessary to rest certain "key" players given the greater importance of the league fixtures for us at this moment in time.

For what it's worth I feel that Dougie's choice in the matter is impossibly restricted by the fact that we are due to play at home against Derby only two days after the game at Old Trafford. As nice as it would be to see us really go for it up there, it doesn't seem to be in his nature to throw caution to the wind and pick our best XI with three points on offer so soon after.

You could argue that the lack of romance in that sentiment takes away from the enjoyment of the occasion as supporters, and I can certainly sympathise with that, but with £500,000 being banked by the club for reaching this stage of the competition, there is nothing to stop the players who are selected going out and giving it their all without having the added pressure of having to reach the next round. Who knows what could happen if we go with Big Calv up front...

Elsewhere, it was announced yesterday evening, that resident reserve midfielder Andy Dorman has agreed to join Bristol Rovers on loan until the 2nd of January, with boss, Paul Buckle insisting that Andy could bring "much needed experience and stability" to the Rovers side, a statement he may live to regret. I can't say that I view it as a loss to our squad in any way, and I imagine it is purely a vehicle to get the lad some game time ahead of potentially moving on in January, good luck to him all the same.

That's about it for today; hopefully there will be more stuff to get our teeth stuck into over the next few hours, for the time being I'm off for a bacon sandwich.

Until tomorrow...

HLTCO - 09/11/2011

2011-11-09T01:00:00.000-08:00

When international breaks rear their ugly heads, the stream of news regarding our club tends to disappear quicker than a jam doughnut within sniffing distance of Neil Shipperley. Sadly, we are currently going through one of those periods, and as such, finding enough decent information to speak about can be a rather tricky task, thankfully, this morning has proved to be the exception to the rule.

The main source of interest on Tuesday night, quite rightly focused around the live debate on Holmesdale Radio between Steve Parish and Gareth Southgate over the EPPP proposals. With Southgate now occupying a supposedly prominent post within the FA set-up, he bravely stepped into the lion’s den and attempted to allay any fears Steve and the supporters had, unfortunately, his answers didn't provide us with any form of comfort.

As much as credit has to be given to him for taking the plunge and allowing himself to be shot at in terms of the specific issues we as a club have with the new proposals, his performance gave the impression of a man in over his head. It was obvious throughout, that he does sympathise with the problems the EPPP poses for us, but it was also abundantly clear that he is somewhat powerless to help.

The main crux of the issue, and it is something that has been obvious throughout the whole of this process, is that, due to our academy proving to be so much more successful than many, our specific circumstances relate to a very small section of the professional English game as a whole. In the main, clubs don't put anything like the same amount of effort and money into their academies as we do relative to their income. As a direct result of this, the increased blanket funding that is being offered to all by the EPPP is an attractive proposition to many, as they will, it seems, be given more money for doing exactly what they have always done, not a lot.

It is now obvious, given Gareth's comments on the subject on Tuesday night, that, although we make a very compelling and valid argument for the huge drawbacks the EPPP presents us individually, the FA do not deem our specific set of grievances to be sufficiently important to the overall good of the game for any dramatic changes in our favour.

Steve Parish, as he has done throughout his time as co-chairman, and especially during the recent debates over the EPPP, did a fantastic job in correctly airing every possible problem the club have with the proposals. You can sense a deep and very real passion to ensure that the correct outcome is reached for all parties in the long-term from the way Steve goes about stating the facts, and I am sure that the conversations will continue for some months yet. One thing is certain, we could not wish for a better man to be taking the lead on the battle against Premiership greed, and Tuesday night was yet another occasion, in an already long list, when I was extremely proud to have him at the top of my football club.

If you would like to listen to the entire debate you can do so by clicking here.

In terms of other club news, there was a predictably ill-informed article linking Wilf with a move to either Newcastle or Everton for the pie in the sky figure of £5 million, which, I suppose we should be flattered by, considering that only a couple of months ago, the sum was a paltry £2 million.

All of the articles published about Zaha's "imminent" departure during the last few months seem to refer to the interested parties "lack of firepower", whilst conveniently ignoring the fact that there has not been a single word uttered from anyone at Palace, Wilf included, about a sale being remotely entertained in the January transfer window.

Normally, I wouldn't even bother to give this type of story the time of day, but given that there really isn't a lot else being said in any media outlet, I was offered little choice but to acknowledge the articles existence. I think everyone is well aware that Wilf sees his immediate future being best served by playing for us, and in truth that is all that really matters.

Finally, Lennie Lawrence has been speaking to the BBC about Jon Williams future as an international player:

"The strong advice from me would be for Jon to play for Wales. There's all sorts of rumours flying about that England are interested in him, but the strong advice from me would be, obviously I've still got connections in Wales, to play for Wales. I think Gary Speed will pick him in the squad and Gary Speed will put him on the pitch when he thinks it's right. I would absolutely stick down that route - that's the advice from me and Dougie we'd be giving to him. Of course it's up to the boy and his parents."

I have to say, that I wholeheartedly agree with Lennie on this issue. As nice as it would be to see Jon representing England one day, the chances of him doing that whilst still playing for Crystal Palace are incredibly slim. It doesn't then take a rocket scientist to work out, that if Jon were to switch allegiances and play for England; the Premier League power clubs would place their scouts on a level of alert higher than ever, thus making it almost impossible for us to keep him.

Playing for Wales, in comparison, represents a happy medium for both Williams and the club. He is already well within touching distance of gaining his first full international cap, having been called up to the senior squad only a couple of months ago, and will, as a result, undoubtedly be given a far more prominent place in the squads attempting to qualify for World Cup 2014 than he would if he declared himself for the Three Lions.

From the club's perspective, it would allow Jon the freedom and confidence associated with playing for his country at the highest level without enticing the humungous amount of interest that is afforded to every prospect that pulls on an England shirt. Obviously, as soon as any player participates for one of the home nations, their stock rises, but it is without question, that the microscope examines players to a deeper degree when they play for England compared with our neighbours from the valleys.

Either way, it is clear that Williams is destined to represent somebody at international level, and if he decides to take Lennie and Dougie's advice to stay loyal to Wales and Gary Speed, the opportunity, I'm sure will present itself sooner rather than later.

Until tomorrow...

HLTCO - 07/11/2011

2011-11-07T01:16:00.000-08:00

So, our run of unbeaten games, clean sheets and endless amounts of optimism has finally come to a very abrupt and conclusive halt. It seems that, despite our recent form going above and beyond anyone's expectations prior to the season beginning, one defeat at the hands of Cardiff has exposed what an utterly useless and inexperienced bunch of losers we have representing the shirt. Well, at least that was the way the final whistle was greeted by many on Saturday evening.

Back in reality, it was clear for all to see, that despite expectations rising with every passing unbeaten minute, the prospect of the boys getting something out of the game against our Welsh opponents was perhaps a bridge to far on the day, given the heavy duty fixture list we have had to contend with in the last few weeks.

To some extent, the warning signs were evident on Tuesday night at home to Portsmouth, with Jonny Williams and Sean Scannell withdrawn from first team duties and Zaha looking tired and frustrated after a relatively short period of the match, it could be argued that our young players, who incidentally offer most of our spark and attacking threat when they are on form, were in need of a sustained rest after a run of seven games in just three weeks.

A fact that didn't escape Dougie when he was asked for his thoughts on Saturday evening:

"We have young players and it has been relentless so the break comes at the right time. We can rest up and go again. Today was probably a game too far, we lacked a spark but performed well against an experienced side but I believe we are on the right path for our long term goal."

In truth, the first half of the game saw us get the better of Cardiff for large spells, and had chances for Scannell and Zaha happened to fall slightly differently, we could be discussing another superb away victory this morning. Without wanting to sound like an aging pundit, churning out clichés for the sake of it, there are key moments in games like these, and unfortunately for us, the timing of Kenny Miller's goal happened to come at such a time, I certainly won't be getting myself too worked up about our first loss in nine games, and I urge you to do the same.

It is always worth trying to put any defeat into some form of perspective, and in doing so, the overwhelming thing to remember is the league position we have secured for ourselves going into the two week break.

Currently in 6th place with a points tally of 25, we can reflect on a job extremely well done by Dougie and the boys in the early stages of the campaign. Despite the disappointment of Saturday, I cannot imagine there is a single Crystal Palace fan that wouldn't have jumped for joy if they were offered the position we currently occupy, back in August. If you do happen to feel that we have somehow underachieved so far, I would suggest that supporting Palace probably isn't for you.

Moving away from the Cardiff defeat, Dougie has been discussing the future of young goal keeper Wes Foderingham, who is currently doing a sterling job whilst on loan at Swindon Town:

"Wes is a fantastic young keeper who had been playing reserve team football here but is now out in the real world at Swindon and doing very well. We'll try and keep him there as long as possible because it is better than reserve level. Just after Christmas we'll have a little talk with him. By then we can see where we are in the division and start offering contracts and talking to people that we'd like to keep over the next two to three years."

It must be said, that Wes has exceeded everyone's expectations for him so far for Di Canio's side, having not conceded a single goal in any of the five games he has played in. It is testament to the talents of the man, that prior to the move he was still waiting for his first opportunity to show what he could do at a professional level, and now he can look back on a few weeks which have seen him become a cult hero at The County Ground, with the Robins fans wondering if anyone is going to score against them again.

What is clear from our perspective, is that it is now more important than ever, to ensure that in January, the long-term future of Wes is tied down. With his contract set to expire in the summer, Dougie clearly needs no more convincing that at the tender age of 20, Foderingham is doing everything needed to prove that he is the natural successor to Julian Speroni's crown as Palace number one. Hopefully he can continue his remarkable run of clean sheets for some time to come yet, with his next test coming when Swindon entertain AFC Wimbledon in the JPT on Tuesday.

Until tomorrow...

HLTCO - 05/11/2011

2011-11-05T02:00:00.000-07:00

Right, just to get our priorities in order this morning, I would firstly like to offer my congratulations to Nathaniel Clyne, who yesterday was awarded the Championship Player of the Month award for October, following his "pivotal", (Peter Beagrie's word not mine) performances following his return from injury a few weeks ago.

If anything it just goes to show what a positive league position can do to the media perception of our club, that Nathaniel should be been given this award now, when we happen to find ourselves in the play-off places, instead of last season, when he was arguably performing to a better standard but we were languishing near the bottom of the table.

In other club news, Anthony Gardner has been speaking about how he was pleased at the way the supporters took to him after he eventually decided to commit himself to playing in SE25 on a permanent basis in the summer:

"It took a bit of time for me to decide what I was doing and I'm thankful for the way the supporters have been with me. I know it may have looked like I didn't want to come and play for the club but you can see from my performances that I'm committed to it, like I was last year. I want to thank them for being behind me. Their backing makes it a lot easier. That goes for the support they have shown all of the boys. It's enjoyable to play in front of them and that's only going to bode well for the team. I feel fit and fresh. I had to play a bit of catch-up. I just hope I don't pay for that come March time when the season goes into a key stage."

Anthony's comments go to show that what gets discussed amongst supporters really can have an effect on players. Whilst there was no hiding the fact that his indecisiveness in signing up to the club permanently in pre-season angered a section of our supporters, it was not an issue you would assume would have played on Gardner's mind once he had put pen to paper on a deal.

In truth, the reaction to him, as he says himself, has been extremely positive, no doubt helped by the fact that his presence in the team has seen the partnership he formed with Paddy last season continue to grow and solidify with each passing week. This has lead most supporters to feel that the aforementioned duo are the best central defensive partnership available, despite the dependable performances from Alexander Tunchev in the early stages of the season when Gardner was still on the road back to full fitness.

There was also a piece in the Croydon Advertiser in which Wilf discussed his contentment at achieving the aim he set himself at the start of the season to get on the score-sheet more often:

"I'm really happy with my season so far having got five goals. Scoring goals is all I wanted. All I had in my head was just to score goals. Last season I played 40 games and I only scored one goal and my objective this season was to improve that tally. I have managed to get one or two important goals. That one against Brighton meant a lot to me and the fans obviously. It was such an intense game and to grab the equaliser then see us go on to win 3-1 was incredible."

It is great to see from Wilf's comments that he is feeling more comfortable with his game in general this season, having made it clear that he wasn't satisfied with only scoring once last season and being so driven to make sure he improved on that this term.

It is a well-known fact that attacking players thrive on confidence, and without a doubt, the goals Wilf has scored for us this season in the Carling Cup, away at Watford and, most importantly, away at Brighton will have given him the belief to know that he can do it every week. You only have to have seen his face as he sprinted towards the touch line with Paddy following the equalising goal at The Amex to know that the flood gates were about to open for him in terms of scoring, and both he and the club as a whole are now reaping the rewards.

In terms of the team for today's game against Cardiff, the only major news to report is that the trio of rested players from Tuesday, Mile Jedinak, Jon Williams and Sean Scannell are all in line for a return to the side as we go in search of our fourth consecutive away win, and our ninth consecutive game unbeaten.

Cardiff is an extremely tough place to go, but we couldn't be going into the game in much better form, especially on the defensive side of things, so with that in mind let's hope that Dougie and the boys can return from Wales with all three points safely in their possession, then we really could start to dream.

Until Monday...

HLTCO 04/11/2011

2011-11-04T02:00:00.000-07:00

With the team now preparing for the trip to face Cardiff at the weekend, the majority of the media attention surrounding the club in the last 24 hours has been directed towards the reserves 3 - 1 victory against Tottenham on Wednesday afternoon.

Whilst we Palace fans are always eager to hear of our academy and development squads doing well, the game in question created a bit more of a buzz than would normally be expected, thanks in large part to a certain Mr. Bostock lining up in the oppositions starting XI.

The game itself appears to have been decided within a frantic 10 minute spell, in which we managed to score all three of our goals.

The first coming from the head of young defender, Quade Taylor, following a corner floated in by Owen Garvan, added to soon after by another headed goal, this time from Calvin Andrew, before Kieron Cadogan picked himself up having been fouled inside the area to slot home the resulting penalty and give us a commanding lead at half-time.

The 2nd half was a far more even affair, with Spurs pulling a goal back, and our boys having one or two decent chances to extend the lead, before holding strong to secure an impressive victory.

Unfortunately for John Bostock, it appears that his impact on the game was minimal, with the only information I was able to find regarding his performance being summed up in this rather sad description:

"Spurs' frustration was made clear on 65 minutes, when Bostock's free kick on the edge of the penalty area soared way over the crossbar as he failed to impress against his former team."

I'm sure you will all join me in extending our deepest sympathies to John for the continued slow and painful stagnation of his professional career, if only he had been better advised when he moved on from us for pure "footballing reasons".

For a full match report from the game please click here.

One of the players featured in that win, Nathaniel Pinney, yesterday joined Ebbsfleet on loan for some much needed first team opportunities. Having seen what Nathaniel is capable of in pre-season, I'm sure he will do himself and the club proud other the course of the next month and I wish him the best of luck for his time with them.

It was also announced yesterday evening, that David ("I can play anywhere") Wright has signed up for another year with us, news that I'm sure will please every Palace fan with a genuine understanding of the game.

It would not be unfair to say that our supporters have taken their time to fully appreciate the positives of having David in the team, but, given his string of stellar performances since being made a regular participant in the centre of our midfield, he has proven to be somewhat of a revelation for Dougie, and I for one, am extremely happy that he will be continuing to break up play effectively with us for another year.

In the wider world of football, our larger than life ex-chairman has been having his say on the continuing saga of the EPPP, writing this predictably opinionated piece for the Guardian newspaper.

If you don't have the time, or the energy to read the entire article, I can tell you that it covers much of the same ground that our supporters and current owners have done already, beating the drum incredibly loudly to demonstrate the injustice and deception that is being carried out in front of our eyes.

It is written in Jordan's typically bullish style and takes figureheads, such as Greg Clarke, the Football League chairman, to pieces over their approach to the situation as a whole.

I can't pretend that I was Simon's biggest fan whilst he was in charge, but one thing he always supported with unwavering enthusiasm was our youth academy, and as a result, I have to say, it is great to see him continuing to make the case heard for the club he once owned, regardless of his legal disputes with us following the unsavoury end to his time in the board room.

Finally, ending on a positive note, it was announced yesterday that Dougie Freedman and Nathaniel Clyne have been shortlisted for the Manager of the Month and Player of the Month awards respectively. In both cases, it is no less than they deserve with the lads going unbeaten in all competitions throughout October, and, as mentioned yesterday, Nathaniel showing such maturity by slotting back into the team so seamlessly in the last few weeks. Congratulations to both of them.

Until tomorrow…

HLTCO 03/11/2011

2011-11-03T02:00:00.000-07:00

Following our 0 - 0 draw on Tuesday evening against Portsmouth, there were numerous people in and around the ground, as well as on Palace Radio and Twitter afterwards who seemed to feel that the previous two results represented four points lost rather than two points gained.

I can't say that it is a view I wholeheartedly share, although I can see where some of the more measured people are coming from. A lot of the frustration from the last two fixtures has been generated by the fact that we have looked so unlikely to score, something that was glaringly obvious on Tuesday night, when we failed to have a single shot on target at any point.

Whilst I can sympathise and fully agree that we should be troubling the keeper a few times in every home game we play, it is also worth pointing out, that had one of the chances we had against Reading found their way into the net, we would now have amassed 27 points and be joint 3rd with Middlesbrough, hardly the joint relegation favourites that the bookies were so doubtful of as recently as August.

As it stands, we are nestled comfortably in 4th position, having not been beaten home or away in our last eight games, with a club record equalling six consecutive clean sheets to our name and a points tally of over half the total required to stay up if you are going by last season’s figures. Once again, these statistics hardly strike fear into my heart, instead leaving me feeling thoroughly contented at the work Dougie is doing on a daily basis, a view the man himself clearly shares if you go by his comments on Tuesday night below.

"There weren't too many chances. Another battling display I felt. When you go through a small slump like this you find yourself losing games. Fortunately for us, we are picking up points. It wasn't the best of our attacking performances but again our defensive display was outstanding against a very experienced side who played the game very well. I'm happy with a point. That's it, as long as you keep clean sheets. The expectations of the last few months have maybe been a little bit too much and this is bringing us back down to earth a little bit. But that's good because we're not losing games of football. We're still picking up points so we'll move on from that."

You can't really disagree with his logic on the game itself, on the one hand he has acknowledged the fact that we aren't quite firing on all cylinders at the moment, whilst also, quite rightly reminding everyone, fans and players alike, that it is important to not get carried away by a few weeks of great form. As he says, the most important thing in these tight games is to not get beaten, and when you continue to defend as well as we are of late we will continue to pick up points whatever else happens.

In other news, Nathaniel Clyne has been called to Stuart Pearce's latest England U-21 squad, which is a great reward for his consistency since regaining his place in the first team following the injury he sustained in pre-season.

It shows what a class act Nathaniel is, that at the age of just 20, he has managed to slot into a winning team so comfortably, given what you would imagine was a much disrupted summer fitness wise. He now has over 100 professional appearances under his belt with us, and can certainly look forward to impressing himself further on the England coaches when he joins them for the qualifiers against Iceland and Belgium.

For a full list of thee Under 21-Squad please click here.

Lastly, I would like to point you in the direction of a wonderful piece on a life spent supporting Crystal Palace, written by Martin Searle for Five Year Plan yesterday. I found it be a heartfelt summary of the highs and lows associated with supporting the club we all love, and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone; you can read the article here.

Until next time.

HLTCO - 02/11/2011

2011-11-02T02:00:00.000-07:00

Last night saw Palace take part in our second 0 - 0 draw in the space of four days. Having failed to break down a resolute and solid Reading side at the weekend, we toiled our way through proceedings against Pompey in a game of very few chances.

With the South coast club having failed to win away from home all season long, it was perhaps the first time in six months that the majority of the home fans went into the game expecting a win, an expectation that our performance on the night never came close to fulfilling.

There could be a multitude of reasons as to why our game didn't reach the heights it has in recent weeks, perhaps the most obvious being the amount of games the team has played in such a short space of time. With Jon Williams rested, Sean Scannell starting from the bench, and Zaha looking tired and frustrated from about 20 minutes into the game, we didn't seem to have the attacking drive and flair which the fans have become so accustomed to this season.

In part this also determined the formation that Freedman started the game with, making it appear to take the shape of an orthodox 4-5-1 with Murray up top on his own, and Wilf or Ambrose just behind depending on the circumstances.

When Wilf and Scannell both start for us, the team still sets up in a 4-5-1 formation but with the aforementioned pair on either flank, giving us an abundance of natural width and the ability to quickly turn the formation into an attacking 4-3-3 whenever the moment presents itself. Last night, Jonny Parr did his best Sean Scannell impression, but due to his lack of attacking drive when he reaches the byline, our attacking play became lopsided, and relatively one dimensional, I have no doubts that, if Scannell and Williams had both started we would have won, sadly that can't and won't always be the case.

On a positive note, we broke the all-time clean sheet record with six consecutive shut-outs last night, a feat that can only be truly appreciated when you think back less than a year to when we had the single worst defensive record in the entire Football League, clearly Mr Popovic is putting something in the water.

Elsewhere, the EPPP debate rolls on, with Steve Parish having taken part in a "special live debate" on Sky Sports News on Monday evening, with West Ham talking head Tony Carr and Watford's Head of Youth, Nick Cox.

Without wanting to sound like an overly partisan club obsessive, it must be said that Steve came across extremely well throughout the programme, getting all of the relevant points listened to in a measured manner, whilst also managing to show displeasure when the need arose.

The fact is, that with Tony Carr clearly not entirely clued up on all the relevant points, and still holding delusions of grandeur as to his own clubs academy, and Cox only partially sympathising with Steve, in an attempt to limit the damage of his own clubs' bid for Grade 1 status, Parish was left alone to fight the battle for clubs with successful academies, a task he took to with aplomb.

There is a particularly good piece covering the whole debate in greater detail here.

Yesterday also saw news break that Bournemouth are looking to take Kieron Cadogan on loan for an as of yet undecided period with the potential for a permanent move should the scenario suit all parties. I can't say I greeted this news with a great deal of joy, not because I don't think it would be a good move for him, I believe it would do him the world of good. I simply worry that if he was to join the Cherries, they would see how talented a wide man he really is, thus encouraging them to really push for a permanent deal, and depriving us of another great player who has come through the youth system. It may be that with the squad as big as it is now, players need to be shuffled and in some cases, moved on, but, I would like to see Kieron stay with us for a while yet.

Finally I leave you with some quotes from our current favourite Australian (and new father to a bouncing baby boy), Mile Jedinak, who yesterday spoke about how he is gradually slotting in to the English game:

"I think it's normal, isn't it? A little bit of adaptation time, seeing how the team plays, I'm feeling comfortable in there, game-by-game, trying to help the team as much as I can. I've got a good understanding now with the players around me and that's helped me to settle in very quickly, I'm very thankful to them for helping me getting settled."

I will admit, I am not exactly Mile's biggest fan as of yet, I see him as a strange player, wandering around in the middle of the park without, it seems, a huge amount of purpose, however, his run in the first team has coincided with a long unbeaten run, and a string of five consecutive clean sheets, which, even I can acknowledge, is not a coincidence.

Dougie has been saying since the day he signed Mile, that he was a great asset to the team and that having him in the middle of the park would enable players such as Zaha and Williams to play their more naturally attacking games, a fact borne out by our recent good form, so regardless of my aesthetic quibbles with his style of running, I suppose it is only fair that I desist with my moans and let Dougie continue to lead the way.

Until next time.

HLTCO - 20/10/2011

2011-10-20T06:20:00.000-07:00

With this morning’s proposals relating to the EPPP (Elite Player Performance Plan), the shape and future of academies in the Football League could well be coming to an abrupt and unsavory dead end.
Under the plans, the process in which youth prospects are purchased by Premier League clubs will be directly related to how long the player in question has been at their previous academy, instead of the current system, in which each specific case is heard by a tribunal and a compensation package is agreed in relation to the perceived potential of the player in question.

To put this into some level of perspective, a player such as our own high profile academy case, John Bostock would have been allowed to leave us for Spurs for a maximum fee of £350,000 instead of the £700,000 initial fee which will rise to £1.25 million dependent on appearances which the tribunal agreed at the time of the transfer to be a fair figure for all parties concerned.

It does not take a brain surgeon to see that the disparity in those two figures represents a huge shift in favour of the purchasing clubs balance sheets in the short and long-term, and could in essence lead to the death of youth academies throughout the UK, simply as a result of a lack of future revenue.

The plans also aim to abolish the current rules which stipulate that players must live within 90 minutes travelling distance from their club, a rule which was designed to ensure the natural growth of young footballers in both an educational and physical sense was disrupted to the minimum level possible in their formative years.

If the new proposals are to be put in place, there will be nothing stopping a club such as Sunderland sending their scouts to watch a youth product playing for Exeter and lure him away with promises of money and first team football, regardless of what is best for his development at a key stage in his life and career. This is a system which is impossible to argue for on any level, other than as a money saving device for clubs with the disposable income to take a gamble on a player at a very low price.

The third part of this complex and ridiculous puzzle focuses on the stipulations and check points academies will have to adhere to, if they are to fall within what will be regarded as a Category One level centre. These include having a full-time staff of at least 18 employees, an annual budget of at least £2.3 million and a previous record of "success" which will judged solely by the Premier League and its members.

Once again, it doesn't take long to realise that almost every club outside of the Premier League and a fair few within it, will not be able to reach these thresholds, and as a result will not be anywhere close to being granted the status of a Category One academy. This in turn will mean that the gap, which is already huge between Premier clubs and the rest of the Football League, will continue to widen, but at a far greater rate.

The sketchy reasoning given by the people who are behind the proposals, centers on the perception that young players who train at the best facilities will automatically become better players than if they were to remain in their normal environment. The comfort of training at a club which the players know and feel comfortable in, with coaches that understand their needs and development rate is being dismissed as pointless by many, who appear to have conveniently forgotten the likes of Dario Gradi at Crewe who has consistently produced top players on a very small budget, anyone remember Dean Ashton?

It appears that the PR spiel churned out following the national team consistently failing at major tournaments has been taken and run with by the countries media outlets who have been brainwashed into thinking that we have finally discovered the Holy Grail of youth development. In the main, they appear to feel the new system will instantly turn our national team into a well drilled, passing side that will conquer all before them because they now all train with Chelsea or Manchester United.

It is a myth that because the facilities are better the coaching is as well. Take a look at our very own youth coach Gary Issott, who has worked tirelessly in recent years to continue the excellent reputation of our academy, by producing such young players as Victor Moses, Sean Scannell, Nathaniel Clyne, Wilfried Zaha and Jon Williams to name a few, all of which were done without a bloated annual budget and numerous full-time staff, but instead with copious amounts of effort and care for all aspects of their growth as professionals.

I could go on for far longer, but to do so could well see me labelled as a mad, ranting nutter, something no one wants to see, the long and short of it is that, if these proposals are to be passed, they would signal the death knell for the financial future of "small" Football League clubs, and as a consequence, a large proportion of the young talented footballers being made available up and down the country.

All we can hope is that, with our new involvement with the Oasis academy, which was announced this afternoon at 2pm, we can continue to produce young players of the standard we are known and respected for already, despite this further obstacle to our success being put directly in front of our faces.

One thing we can still hope for is that young men continue to follow in the footsteps of Jon Williams and Sean Scannell, who only last month, committed their immediate futures to Crystal Palace on professional terms regardless of what agents and managers may have said to them from other clubs. If that continues to happen it will keep the main bargaining power in the clubs hands, meaning that they are still able to negotiate a fee which they find acceptable, rather than being forced to accept the tiny sums dictated to them by the money men ruining our game from the top down.

We can only hope.

PS: If you could find the time to have a look at http://www.hltco.spreadshirt.co.uk I have opened an online clothing store which now has a selection of t-shirts and hoodies available for everyone to buy.

I can also design bespoke clothing with whatever text you would like, if you have any requests, please get in touch with me on twitter @HLTCO, thanks.

Until next time.

HLTCO - 10/10/2011

2011-10-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

They're funny things, international breaks. Having spent the previous couple of months with shed loads of Palace related news rammed down my throat on a daily basis, there is suddenly absolutely nothing being said of any significance whatsoever.

For football addicts such as myself, it initiates a situation where news of Mile Jedinak being given 22 minutes of game time for Australia in their 5-0 win over Malaysia, takes on a level of importance that it really shouldn't command in any sane persons brain, and ultimately, results in the realisation that I really should be spending my time doing more important things, such as curing cancer or learning how to successfully build a garden shed.

With this in mind, there could be a case made for Sam Allardyce suffering from a similar level of mind numbing boredom when he took the foolish decision to verbally bash our fearless leader through the medium of the West Ham official website last week.

From what I can gather from Sam "Percentage Football" Allardyce's comments, he was disappointed that a young manager praised his team for coping well with a big, physically commanding side, and felt that instead of focussing on what we did well, Freedman should have dropped to his knees and bowed at the feet of Sam and his charges from the self-dubbed "academy of football".

Whilst it is stupid to get worked up about the words of a man whose managerial master-plan involves dissecting copious amounts of irrelevant statistics to display how Kevin Davies should be everyone's perfect centre forward. It does irk me somewhat that the completely innocent comments made by our manager have been allowed to be dragged through the press and dressed up as something they're not, simply because Percentage Man is able to use his failed jaunts at Newcastle and Blackburn to warrant media attention.

As with all attacks on our club, the supporters have more than had their say, with Five Year Plan wording a suitably amusing open letter to the man himself which can be found here. As well as an impressive amount of Twitter folk getting pleasantly dug in to West Ham chairman and all-round weirdo David Gold, via his official twitter account.

On further inspection, it appears that Dougie has seamlessly picked up the art of infuriating his managerial counterparts by making innocuous comments in the public eye, a skill perfected some years ago by fellow Scotsman Alex Ferguson, causing such meltdowns as the Kevin Keegan "love it" saga, viewable here.

It is a skill which, although somewhat foreign to us, following periods under the oafish Iain Dowie and wooden Peter Taylor, I feel we should embrace with open arms. It shows that, whilst Dougie now has us playing decent attacking football on a regular basis, he is also able to rattle the cages of footballing dinosaurs such as Big Sam purely through speaking his mind.

There will no doubt have been a part of Allardyce's head that would have written us off prior to the match, assuming that his big budgeted Premier League squad would overpower a club still suffering from a financial hangover with an inexperienced ex-player in charge, only to realise (at some point in the 2nd half I would imagine) that we clearly no longer embody those characteristics.

It is a testament to what Freedman has achieved in only 10 months in charge that we were able to take four points from games and Br*ghton and West Ham in under a week before heading into the imposed two week break that will see us get first team players Clyne, Garvan and Dikgacoi back to full fitness.

Dougie has done his job without any media hype or big money signings, and clearly intends to keep it that way for the foreseeable future, and perhaps that is what has got Sam so highly strung in the first place, because for all of his posturing and deluded self-confidence his team were only able to "dominate" us enough to secure a solitary point. If I were Sam Allardyce, I'd be more "disappointed" that I was unable to get my own house in order before looking to berate somebody for doing their job correctly.

Until next time.

HLTCO - 30/09/2011

2011-09-30T04:34:00.000-07:00

To try and put the events of Tuesday evening into words, has proven (in my head at least) to be a daunting task. The day itself was built up to such inflated levels that I, and no doubt many others were a tad worried that the 90 minutes would fail to live up to the hype it had received in the weeks and months prior to its arrival. I can now say, much to my delight, that it surpassed even my most ambitious expectations in every way imaginable.

Due to the peculiar nature of Brighton's shiny new Personal Credit Stadium the logistics of making your way there require your travel arrangements to take on the look of a military operation. Upon arrival in Brighton with the intention of having a pint or two prior to making our way to Falmer via the supposed 10 minute train journey, we were greeted by a scatter-gun view of Brighton supporters feigning aggression towards no one in particular from the doors of pubs surrounding the station.

Upon hearing that the main Palace contingent were plotted up in the Wetherspoon's near the sea front we decided against making the walk there and instead took a deep breath and ventured into a small bar on the side of the road frequented by a mixture of ageing south coast locals with mockney accents and young lads, kitted fully out in Stone Island jackets and Abbercrombie polo shirts, all of whom seemed extremely pleased to be together for what one person loudly christened, "the biggest game for the club in 50 years!"

Having witnessed the Brighton "pwoper naughty" experience for all of 13 minutes, we made our exit. Weaving our way through numerous gaggles of Brighton fans plotted up a various points up the street, who continued the trend of singing "Albion, Albion!" in groups of three to no one in particular and feeling rather pleased with themselves.

When we reached the station, men in yellow jackets hurriedly directed us towards a queue for platform eight, joining the back of the line, glances were exchanged, the realisation sinking in that we were set for at least another 30 minutes amongst people not considered our own, only made worse when no more than three minutes later we heard the familiar tone of the Palace faithful accompanied by a Police escort arriving through the station gates.

What followed was at least 10 minutes, (although it felt like far longer) of watching the buoyant support from SE25 waltz past us, singing songs and flinging gestures towards the group we were surrounded by, as they made their way onto the trains that would take them to Falmer first.

I have to say that viewing it from afar was superb, purely because, having been present within such Palace convoys in the past I was now able to watch the effect from the other side of the fence, and let me tell you all, the response to our support was truly pitiful, with almost everyone around us, simply sighing prior to looking squarely towards their feet.

Once on the train, the experience of the home support only got better from a Palace perspective, not that I was there, but I am 99% sure that the atmosphere on the Palace trains would have been positively bursting with noise and banter.

A stark contrast to what we experienced, which involved a busy train carriage full of men in replica shirts and ill-fitting hats making mumbled conversation with the stench of what can best be described as a rabbit hutch wafting into my nostrils, whilst one of the closest members of the carriage to us was christened "Mr Damp" by one of us following our departure from the carriage, an image I'm sure takes no further explaining.

With all of these unsavory recent experiences taking far too prominent a place in our minds as we reached our seats, the opening 20 minutes appeared to pass by in somewhat of an angry blur, with Craig-Makail-Worthington-Farnsworthy-Smith popping up to put them in front before we knew what was going on and the next quarter of an hour appearing to pass without us getting a single touch of the ball, the feeling within the away end was positively horrible.

At this point, being fully aware that the 2nd half has been analysed and picked apart 1,567 times over already on message boards on Twitter, I will spare you any tactical deconstruction and simply say, that our performance in that final 45 minutes was a joy to watch. The team played with a desire and pace that completely nullified any threat from the home team, and following 35 minutes of genuine pressure on the hosts’ goal the breakthrough was deservedly made, with two more following in the remaining 12 minutes, prompting the following support of 2,400 to reach levels of ecstasy seldom seen before.

It was a feeling completely different from the exploits of Hillsborough 16 months ago, but it many ways it equaled it for me, maybe it was the poetic nature of the scorers, with the young prodigy Zaha getting the equaliser, the much debated Hillsborough hero getting the second, and Glenn "FFS" Murray hammering the final nail in the coffin.

Perhaps it was the realisation that we will forever be the first team to win a league game at The Personal Credit Stadium, or maybe it was the fact that the club who were so sure they were on the fast-track to leaving us behind once and for all were humbled on their own patch that did it, but it really was a night that embodied what it means to be a Palace fan, and is perhaps the best representation of why everyone who has been brought up watching the boys in Red and Blue feels so connected to our football club, as just when you think you've seen it all, the boys throw another joyful curveball directly towards us.

Dougie was calm and collected in his post match interview, but the emotion from him and the boys when they came over to applaud us after the final whistle said everything to me. His persona in the media is of a calm and collected young manager who plays his cards extremely close to his chest, but when the moment allows him, he leaves all of us in no doubt as to what he really feels. A man bursting with pride, he was fully aware of just what he had given us all on Tuesday night, and for all of his claims that he was pleased to do something for the fans, I am equally as happy for him, as he, the man who has saved us three times, deserves it just as much.

Until next time.

HLTCO - 22/09/2011

2011-09-22T08:55:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night saw a much changed Palace side take the field against Middlesbrough hoping to wipe out the memory of a 1 - 0 defeat inflicted upon us only three days before. The starting eleven saw a return to first team duties for Lewis Price, who has so far played in every round of this seasons Carling Cup, as well as returns to the side for the like of Jon Williams and Stuart O'Keefe in the middle of the park.

It is a system that has served Dougie well so far this term, and rather than attempting to fix something that isn't broken, he has obviously made the decision to stick with the players that have got us this far, a tactical move I feel should be applauded given the temptation to tinker that often creeps into managers heads the further into competitions they get.

The game itself was quite similar in pattern to its predecessor for the opening 15 minutes, with both sides looking to work their way into a good performance rather than hitting the ground running, until Jon Williams picked the ball up in the middle on the park before sliding it left to Wilfried Zaha, who cut inside on the edge of the box, before lashing it home high to the keepers right hand side.

It was then that the boys started to show their true attacking abilities, as has often been the way so far in the League Cup this season, Glenn Murray continued to impress at the head of the Palace attack, whilst Calvin managed a powerful strike on target from fully 25 yards, a sight I was equally elated and bemused to witness.

In the second half we continued our good work, Murray hit the woodwork for what felt like the 67th time in the last two weeks, before Calvin got a reward for his hard work on the night, when he looped a header over Danny Coyne and into the net, following a cross from the extremely impressive Zaha.

Unfortunately, we then conceded a sloppily defended goal two minutes later, which made for a nervy end to the game, but, having hung on for the win, I feel it is imperative to mention the input of the youngsters on the night.

Zaha, who sometimes fails to get grouped in to the "youngsters" bracket because of his huge presence in the first team, arguably had his best game ever in a Palace shirt, his assurance with the ball at his feet, coupled with his pace and confidence had the Boro defenders stumped throughout the game. The hope now, is that with couple of goals to his name, we may well see the best of what he can offer after Dougie readily admitted he was probably overused last term, a problem not likely to resurface given the strength of our midfield now.

To add to the performance of Wilf, both Jon Williams (who I fear I may run out of superlatives to describe before too long) and Stuart O'Keefe were fantastic in the centre of midfield, not getting overawed by the task at hand, and going about their business as they had been told to do. It would be foolish to make comparisons between the two of them as they are vastly different players, but with Williams ability to pick a pass working so well next to O'Keefe's no nonsense style of defending the back four, you can definitely see the synergy the partnership naturally has, who knows, it could be a sign of the potential midfield pairing for years to come.

This leads me on to the other superb news we were given only the morning after Tuesday nights victory, that Sean Scannell and Williams have agreed new deals at the club of four and a half, and three and a half years years respectively.

There is no doubting the ability of these two, and to get them tied down and committed to the Palace cause with such little speculation and fanfare is a superb piece of business by the owners and Dougie. It serves as a reminder of how perceptions are changing with regards to our club, that two players of this calibre are so pleased to sign up to what CPFC2010 and Freedman are trying to build, as can be seen in the quotes below, first from Sean, and then from Jon.

"I am really happy to have signed the contract with this club, it is the only place I want to be. I am so pleased that the boss has offered me a new deal and it's good to see its all done and I am able to speak about it being put to bed."

" It is great for me to be signing, especially a deal of this length, I am over the moon really and I am looking forward to working with the boss and the rest of the staff to make me a better player. It has been great to be involved in the first team so early in my career and not only get the experience but work with fellow players which can only help my game."

It does strike me that, although at the time it felt like a real slight on our club, the Bostock saga, could well have gone a long way to restoring the true meaning of our academy, with players now coming through our ranks fully aware of the decisions John and his family made, and where it has led his career in the years that have followed.

Contrary to what the papers and Sky Sports News try and tell you, there are barely and young footballers who don't love playing the game, yes, the money and nice possessions are a highly desirable reason to aspire to be successful in the long-term, but when these lads are just beginning their careers the main focus will always be on playing football, as it is what they love to do. A fact, that appeared to get lost in the dizzying financial ramifications of the John Bostock scenario, which as a result has now left him punting around in footballing wilderness.

In our case, it has enabled us to show two of our most promising talents that there is a right way to go about things, which involves staying grounded, learning your craft, and, eventually, if you are good enough, or you clearly and rapidly outgrow the size of the club that you play for, you move on, safe in the knowledge that you have all the relevant skills to excel at a higher level. A fact that, judging by the above quotes, seems to have been firmly planted and left to resonate in both of our young charges heads, they may well follow the aforemetioned path to bigger things, and if they do, then all power to them, but I for one am extremely glad that they will be following that road with us by their side for some years to come.

Until next time.

HLTCO - 19/09/2011

2011-09-18T10:52:00.000-07:00

Saturday's defeat to Middlesbrough seems to have affected a portion of our supporters in a curious way, despite the fact that Mowbray's side now sit atop the Championship table, have the best goal difference of any team in the league, and were only saved the indignity of us being the team to stop their run of six consecutive away wins by the width of a crossbar, some people are far from happy.

Perhaps it's a byproduct of the start we have made, that fans arrived at Selhurst just expecting another team of northern upstarts to be dispatched comfortably by the boys. People could be seen with looks of bewilderment plastered across their faces when the final whistle sounded, memories of stoppage time fight backs and Glenn Murray supersub appearances a mere flicker of a memory in their angered heads.

This in itself is a measure of how far Dougie Freedman has taken the club in his short reign in charge, and goes some way to showing that the "disease" he spoke of in his column this week is finally starting to relent in supporters minds. I have no doubt that last season we would have been dead and buried in that game before the half-time whistle had even sounded, I shudder to think of the atrocities that could have occurred in Saturday's game if the team we put out had George Burley in charge of it, although I would assume we'd have conceded at least one goal in the opening 12 minutes before submitting to a humiliating defeat and thanking Boro for the privilege of playing them when they boarded their team coach.

As it was, we competed well for large spells of the game, before conceding a goal to the extremely dangerous Marvin Emnes who was left free at the back post for the first time all afternoon and took his opportunity with aplomb, no complaints from me on that front.

There was no doubting the desire from the boys to get back into the game after the goal, with sustained pressure coming close to paying off on two occasions late on, once from Jermaine Easter's strike which rattled the bar and the second coming in the shape of a Murray header which he couldn't get over enough to get on target.

Wilf, who was introduced straight after the goal, took to his task with real commitment and caused the Boro defence a multitude of problems, in particular Joe Bennett, who was sent off after pulling Zaha back when he got past him with 15 minutes to go. There were one or two times when Wilf would have been better advised to pass rather than shoot when he got to the byline, but as whole, he looked our most threatening player once he came on.

The main point I feel it in necessary to get across when looking at Saturday's result is that, had Easter's shot been two inches lower the inquest into the performance would be nowhere near as fervent, it would be viewed as another solid point, which we would have battled hard for and got our rewards for the pressure late on.

Instead, certain voices are clambering for reasons that we can attribute the defeat to, something I don't remember happening straight after Coventry at home when we performed in almost exactly the same way, but through a mixture of a bit of luck and some tricky wing play from the aforementioned Zaha, we managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Don't get me wrong, losing hurts, but the manner of it was hardly as damaging this Saturday as it has been so often in the last few months.

We face Boro again in three days, and with both sides liable to make some changes to the starting XI's, I see no reason why we can't get back to winning ways as fast as have fallen out of them. With chances such as Paddy McCarthy's first half header going in, there would have been no reason to believe that we couldn't have gone on to secure all three points yesterday afternoon, and with Boro either making two extremely long journeys up and down the country or staying in a hotel in between our two games with them there is no doubting they will almost certainly not be at their most settled by the time our game kicks off on Tuesday evening.

Hopefully, these two league defeats on the spin are no more than a blip and we can clear our heads sufficiently in the hours before our next game to approach Tuesday night with the same enthusiasm and verve that we have done on our previous two outings in the League Cup, predictions on the result aside, I am just hopeful that we don't let last season's mentality creep back into our minds after two unlucky defeats, these are the times Freedman will have to work hard to keep the "disease" from reappearing, and I have the utmost faith in his medicinal skills.

Until next time.

HLTCO - 16/09/2011

2011-09-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

As we go into two games in the space of four days against Tony Mowbray's Middlesbrough side, it is safe to say that spirits at Selhurst Park are unconvetionally high for this time of year.

This feeling of contentment could be down to a number of things, perhaps most obviously, the start we have made to season points wise is reason to feel cheery. in the games following the opening day defeat away to Peterborough, we have gone on to beat Burnley, Coventry, Hull, Crawley and lastly Wigan whilst also managing a creditable draw against a dangerous Blackpool side last Saturday.

Whilst normally, this would be reason enough to gloat outrageously in the faces of our footballing contemporaries, there are even more reasons for optimism of late, with the feeling that players such as Sean Scannell and Wilfried Zaha are finally beginning to fulfill their true potential. Scannell, who is now being given the chance to ply his trade as a centre forward, rather than as a makeshift winger, has been prolific in front of goal, netting three times, whilst Zaha seems to have added an extra dimension to his play, showing a directness and drive when running at defenders which has seen him cause problems for teams almost every time he has donned the red and blue since August, an aspect of his play possibly demonstrated most successfully in our last gasp win at home to Coventry, in which he created both Scannell's equalising strike and Jermaine Easter's 94th minute winner.

Hot on the heels of players such as Zaha and Scannell, a young man by the name of Jonathan Williams has begun to make his presence felt in the first team set-up this season, primarily making appearances in pre-season friendlies, before progressing to a cameo role against Coventry which saw him involved in the build up to one of the goals, as well as starting both of our League Cup fixtures.

Jon, whilst only just having turned 17, has shown just how special a talent he could become, with his performances demonstrating a calm and poise barely ever seen in someone so young. Not only does he appear to posses all the physical tools that could result in him become a genuine world-class player, he also seems to have a superb mental approach to his work, being fouled on countless occasions, and always shrugging it off, dusting himself down and starting again.

Dougie has obviously been careful in his handling of Williams so far in the press, praising him, whilst not allowing the assorted journalists to get too carried away too soon. It appears that everyone connected with the club is more than aware that the nature of the talent we have on our hands is a very special one, and no one will blame Freedman for making sure Jon keeps his feet firmly on solid ground.

All in all, these contributing factors have all played a role in allowing Palace fans to feel far more comfortable with the football club of late, after a prolonged spell of uncertainty before, during and after the administration period, something which Freedman himself has been quick to relate to in his column this week.

One of the major challenges I've set myself is to lift what I see as a feeling of negativity that seems to surround the club.
Perhaps it's not surprising after the past few years. We've had administration and relegation battles but it still frustrates me the way that people perceive our wonderful club at times.
Large sections of the media, a small section of our own support, and even one or two individuals inside the club seem to think that disaster is always lurking round the corner at Crystal Palace. Well not anymore.
I discovered that pretty early on in my reign. It's almost like a disease that has infected the place and I'm determined to get rid of it. It will take time for sure, but day by day we are fighting it off.
Ever since January the players have begun to believe.
Last season they believed they could stay up. And this season they believe they can really go on and achieve something.
Whether that something is promotion or a good run in one of the Cup competitions I'm not sure yet, but I know from working with them day in day out that they are desperate to achieve something.

It is with comments like this, that Freedman sets himself apart from the vast majority of managerial candidates floating around in the English game with relation to our club. Often in the middle of these managerial columns I see the same cliches and motivational tidbits wheeled out week after week without any real conviction that the comments have come from the person in questions own thoughts, "We'll keep on working hard for the win", and "No one is more determined than me to be successful at this club" being two of personal favourite managerial quotes that amount to sod all in the grand scheme of things, Freedman's comments however, seem different.

They strike a chord with me, and no doubt countless other supporters, as the thoughts of a man who is deeply passionate about the club in question, phrases such as, "It still frustrates me the way that people perceive our wonderful club at times." don't just come out of a managerial handbook, they are the words of a man who has seen the club in its darkest days and has thrice been there to save it from oblivion. They are the words of a man who feels a connection to the club which means more to him than the figures on his monthly pay cheque, and because of this the supporters love him all the more.

I have no doubt that Dougie will become a superb manager in the long-term, and although it may have seemed a risk to appoint him in the role initially, I believe that the decision taken by Steve Parish and co will continue to reap rewards for a long time to come, partly because they appear to have unearthed a gem sitting on our doorstep in Freedman, but more importantly because, when in boils down to it, Freedman loves the club as much as we do.

PS

From now on I am going to endeavor to keep this blog ticking over on a far more regular basis, leaning more towards a personal look at the news coming out of SE25 rather than full-on opinion pieces tackling specific issues, hopefully I can add to what is already a bulging CPFC news centre with my thoughts.

Until next time.

A summary of Colin's chances of Premier League success...

2011-07-15T04:37:00.000-07:00

When I was asked to write a piece summarising Neil Warnock’s chances of managerial success in the coming Premier League season I can’t pretend I didn’t meet the task without a sense of mild trepidation.

As a Crystal Palace fan, it could be argued that my opinion on Neil is far from impartial owing to our rather tumultuous recent history together. Despite this, I feel that the experience of having him at the helm of my football club for the final throes of Simon Jordan’s tenure has put me into the unique position amongst the majority of the football watching public of knowing how Mr Warnock tends to react when his back really is up against the wall.

Upon his arrival in South London he was full of energy and wit, verbally sparring with his “close friend” Simon Jordan in the press conference to announce his appointment, and instilling a new and refreshing battling spirit to a side that was crying out for someone to come in and shake it up following an unbearably dull spell under Peter Taylor.

He got players working for the shirt again and quickly got the fans on side by showing a desire to succeed whenever he spoke in public (something he tended to do quite a bit of). To add to that he also began to bring players in, such as Clint Hill, who, although not the most gifted technical footballer to ever grace the game, did demand that every one of his team mates gave their complete all whenever they were on the pitch, all of which, somewhat unsurprisingly began to pay dividends for our overall performance.

We flirted with promotion via the play-offs in his first season in charge and we were beginning to really believe that Warnock, who had declared that we were to be his last job in football, was the man to guide us to long-term glory.

That was until the Palace bubble burst in January 2010 with the news that the club had entered administration for the second time in under ten years. Suddenly, the team Warnock had nurtured were slapped with a ten point deduction and tossed out of the play-off hunt headfirst into a relegation dog-fight.

It was with this bombshell that the whole demeanour of Neil Warnock changed for the worse. Initially, he was defiant, declaring that the club would fight on and that his only thoughts were on the matter of keeping Crystal Palace in the Championship, but the departure of Simon Jordan appeared to act as a catalyst for his overall mood to darken beyond all recognition.

Having carried on in the role for a matter of weeks following the announcement of the clubs administration troubles, he had left for Queens Park Rangers, leaving a squad and set of supporters behind, who up until that point had been counting on him for inspiration and leadership in what was, without doubt our gravest moment of need.

It was a move which angered all of the clubs fans, and left us feeling that, despite all of Neil’s posturing and pontificating about how much he loves the game and all that goes with it, he took the easy route out when the opportunity presented itself, regardless of all the tales of loyalty and team spirit that he preached to his players during those final few weeks.

We did manage to survive that season, but no sooner had the dust settled following our last day survival before Warnock was raiding the side of all the players he felt could be of use to him in his new role at QPR. Shaun Derry and Clint Hill departed on free transfers whilst a drawn out pursuit of Darren Ambrose eventually ended in failure for Neil, despite his constant comments in the media stating how “desperate” Ambrose was to join QPR and that, “he had already been to Loftus Road to pick out a box for his family.” all rather unsavoury and petty in the grand scheme of things.

The season just gone has seen Warnock’s QPR side, captained by Shaun Derry and with Clint Hill as an ever-present dominating force in defence, sweep all before them in winning the division, no mean feat it must be said.

The trickery and inventiveness of Adel Tarrabt on one side and guile of another Palace old boy, Wayne Routledge on the other, providing the creativity to compliment the hard backbone already established in the side and lead the team to a memorable league triumph.

With all that being said, it has been another turbulent summer for Warnock, with stories of blocks on potential transfers and rumours everywhere you look of his replacement being readied in the shape of Marcello Lippi amongst others.

It would be foolish not to say that QPR are entering this season back with the big boys feeling somewhat underprepared. At the time of writing the club have only managed to bring in two new players in Jay Bothroyd and Kieron Dyer, both of whom have rather substantial question marks hovering over them to say the least, whilst stories of huge bids for Tarrabt appear to be sticking around for the long-haul regardless of whether or not there has actually been any movement on the transfer in the last few days.

Ultimately though, the side which Warnock assembled to get the club out of the Championship, as strong as it was, will need significant strengthening in numerous areas if they are going to have much chance of guaranteeing survival in the top flight past the 2011/12 season.

It’s not that the players Warnock already has at his disposal aren’t good at what they do; it is simply that what they do is play solid, winning Championship style football, which embodies all the traits Warnock knows best, and falls short of the free flowing comfort with which most Premier League sides stroke the ball around in the modern age.

There were spells in Warnock’s tenure at Palace in which we felt he got the team playing really good stuff, most notably when he employed Scott Sinclair, (now of promotion rivals Swansea City) and Victor Moses on opposite flanks, but all in all, the majority of the team’s success was due to hard work and endeavour, much in the same vein as his current QPR side.

In essence, the answer to the question of whether or not Neil Warnock can be a success in the Premier League lies in his ability to invest on two separate fronts. The first requires him to have the tactical nous and wherewithal to hand pick players capable of matching their new top flight counterparts whilst still blending them into a side which can face adversity together rather than individuals. The other aspect relies on the owners willingly giving him a sum of money which he feels is acceptable to secure safety in the Premier League, something which is looking more and more unlikely with each passing week.

Knowing Neil the way I do, I wouldn’t bank on him sticking around to see the conclusion of QPR’s fairy tale season, should his employers not tick all of his personal boxes.

Well that certainly doesn't happen every day...

2011-05-25T13:09:00.000-07:00

So then, at precisely 15:21 yesterday afternoon, Crystal Palace announced to whoever was listening, that Glenn Murray had agreed to join the club on a three year deal having failed to come to an arrangement with his previous employers, Brighton and Hove Albion.

It is a transfer which has been on the cards for some time. Long before the season finished, reports surfaced that Freedman was interested in the frontman, only for Dougie to quash any claims of feasibility before they had time to get off the ground. With that, the majority of the Palace faithful decided to forget about the move all together, taking our managers word as gospel and settling our thoughts on the all-important run in to the Championship season.

It wasn’t until our second tier status had been confirmed that the rumours resurfaced, with numerous “well informed” sources intimating that they were privy to information which suggested that Murray had been to the training ground for a medical and that a deal was close.

With that, the Palace rumour mill went into an insane form of overdrive, as it tends to do whenever there is a sniff of a new signing these days, leaving the less informed among us to scramble for any shred of creditable fact we could find.

There were pages upon pages of unsubstantiated rubbish being discussed on the message boards, sightings of our potential new star at bus stops, petrol stations and motorway service car parks, but as is often the way with these things, no official word as to whether it was anywhere near close to becoming a done deal.

That was until yesterday when the short statement found here allowed us all to breathe a little easier, safe in the knowledge that not only had we secured the services of what appeared in every sense to be a natural goal scorer, but that we had also managed to do so whilst infuriating our rivals from the south coast.

Up until that point, the vast majority of the points made by Brighton fans seemed to focus on the view that they trusted their beloved manager Gus Poyet implicitly with all things Seagull and that, if he had deemed Glenn Murray unable to cope with the rigours of Championship football, they would manage. It was a perspective I wasn’t entirely convinced by, but I let it go, putting it down to the grieving process after the loss of a loved one being a long and often unpredictable path.

It was only when the transfer became official that the tone of the messages and tweets changed dramatically for the worse, with Brighton fans making it known in whichever way possible that everyone associated with Crystal Palace Football Club, from Glenn Murray and the supporters, to the woman who used to clean the toilets in 1972 was a disgusting, pointless waste of space. Once again I bit my tongue to a degree, as I could sympathise with the pain of letting go of a prized asset for peanuts, I don’t need to remind anyone reading this of the John Bostock saga again, I’m sure.

The moment that eventually tipped me over the edge of reasonable understanding, and into the wilderness of pure hilarity was when the fifth stage of the grieving process appeared to kick in for most of them, leading them to claim, on mass that we were somehow a smaller and less illustrious club than their fine selves, that we had no money, no fans and were well back on the road to rack and ruin financially all in one big hit.

Wild rumours that Murray was now our top earner came to the fore, frenzied predictions of back to back promotions were being hurled at us from every angle, and perhaps most perplexing of all, the defiant claims that Will Hoskins was somehow a suitable replacement for their previously beloved Murray appeared to be doing the rounds everywhere you looked.

It appeared as though every one of their newly acquired season ticket holders had decided to finally make themselves known in public and declare, with misguided sincerity, that they had somehow gone through a life altering change in the previous few hours and that they were now established as a far bigger club than ourselves.

Such well known faces as Robyn Schonhofer, (yes I had to Google her as well) threw their weight behind the campaign declaring, “But Palace fans are deluded if they think it’s for a better club. Man Utd yes but Palace? – ha ha excuse me while I laugh hysterically!” on her Twitter account, leading to heated debates with many a Palace fan, myself included over who in fact was the bigger club in the grand scheme of things, all rather silly when you think about it.

Having had a further few hours to mull the whole situation over, the issue really does boil down to two key factors, one being the construction of a sparkly new stadium for the Seagulls, which appears to have given them the unwavering belief that they will now go on to dominate Europe and possibly the global game in the next few years, thus finally overtaking us. Whilst the other simply relates to the fact that one of their heroes from the past season has decided to jump ship for a better contract just when everything was looking rosy for them, forcing their supporters to question the true nature of the supposed good times that are expected to roll for the club in the decades to come.

It is somewhat of a predictable reaction for a club who have spent the majority of their recent history in the division directly below our own, for them to chuck their toys everywhere in a childish manner as soon as the first sign of trouble appears on the horizon, unable to understand why anyone would want to leave them. Sadly though, the reality of modern football dictates that a clubs top players will attract interest from elsewhere. As supporters, we have had to deal with our fair share of loved players lost because of financial incentive in recent years.

This has been a transfer that has proved rather eventful, and it certainly does nothing but add extra spice to our two league fixtures with our seaside neighbours next season. For the time being however, I would like to say that I welcome Mr Murray to Selhurst Park with open arms, and wish him every success in his Palace career. It can’t have been an easy decision for him to make but I for one am extremely glad he has made it. Ultimately, if you do require any further persuasion as to the merits of “our” Glenn, I encourage you to take a look at the video below.

Until next time.

No sooner has the dust settled...

2011-05-09T09:10:00.000-07:00

With less than 48 hours having passed since the end of the 2010/11 season, it appears that Dougie Freedman has decided to start the summer clear-out of the football club by waving goodbye to Claude Davis, Pablo Couago, Gavin Mahon and Dean Austin, all before 2 o’clock this afternoon.

The news, which was swift and rather unexpected, gives some indication as to why Freedman decided to start Counago up front on the final day against Forest, as well as giving some clarity to the reasoning behind bringing Claude on to fill in at the back in Moxey’s absence rather than moving Wright into the back four, which at the time struck me as extremely odd, but now gives the impression of allowing both men to stake their claim for new deals.

It is part and parcel of football that players will be released or sold throughout the footballing pyramid every summer, but for many supporters it doesn’t take away the fact that they may well have become quite attached to the players in question for a multitude of differing reasons.

As a case in point, the release of Claude Davis has triggered outpourings of sadness from many Palace fans, who, although well aware of Claude’s numerous technical shortcomings will openly admit to growing extremely fond of his no nonsense, one man wrecking ball style of defending since he joined the club in 2009.

That’s the strange anomaly with football fans (myself included), whilst a player is under contract, and therefore figuratively “ours” we feel it is more than acceptable to call for him to be dropped, or moan about his lack of composure on the ball and so on, until, out of the blue, he’s gone.

Suddenly, that loveable, frustrating centre back we have all become so accustomed to poking fun is no longer a part of our club, and just as quickly as he became part of the collective consciousness of Palace fans for his calamitous performances, he is no more. It is something which demonstrates very clearly, the finality of professional football, whilst also leaving many feeling slightly let down by the loss of such a big character.

On the other side of the emotional seesaw for most of us was the news that Pablo Counago had also been let go by the club. The Spaniard, who, due to performances so lacking in drive and determination, had regularly drawn screams of derision from the Selhurst faithful, leaves the club with nowhere near the same feeling of good will, with most believing that he was simply here to collect another pay cheque to help him through his careers autumnal years.

It’s not that Pablo was a bad player, far from it, but, one thing that Palace fans tend to demand from the people who represent us is a regular show of effort, drive and determination, something which Counago never appeared capable or willing to do.

The release of Mahon was inevitable, mainly due to the fact that he hasn’t played a minute of football for us since coming in, something which, although I’m sure there are reasons behind it, makes the initial decision to bring him in all the more baffling, perhaps he was just there to bring some more experience to the training ground, unfortunately, I would imagine, we will never find out.

That leaves us with the final departure of the day in Dean Austin, who has been relieved from his role as part of the backroom team supporting Dougie. This move comes with a number of possible reasons behind it, chief of which in my mind being that although he is a club icon in his own right, Deano never really fit in with Dougie’s plans for his coaching staff, having been appointed by George Burley last summer. With the appointments of Lennie Lawrence and Tony Popovic shortly after Freedman was given the top job, the writing appears to have been on the wall regarding this move for some time, and rumours of John Pemberton already being earmarked for a return to the club after joining at the end of last season under Paul Hart, it appears that Dougie has a very definite plan of where he wants the club to move in the next few months.

Hopefully we can get the signings of Anthony Gardner and James Vaughan tied up as well as convincing Neil Danns to put pen to paper on a new deal before too long, allowing us to look towards the new season with excitement and a side that is set up to truly hit the ground running.

For now though, we are all faced with the prospect of a full summer without football and the inevitable boredom that comes with it, leaving the only date on the horizon that fills me with any semblance of hope of getting my Palace fix coming in mid-June when the fixture list is released, giving way to all sorts of plans of potential away days as well as the mouth-watering ties against Brighton.

Yes, it’s going to be a long few months, but as the old saying goes, “absence makes the heart grow fonder.” And believe me; I cannot wait until it all starts again...

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A monumental home win...

2011-04-26T09:14:00.000-07:00

When the final whistle eventually blew at Selhurst Park yesterday, the overwhelming emotion that swept around the ground was one of manic relief. Following Neil Danns’ strike after only 68 seconds, we had managed, through a mixture of frantically desperate defending and utter perseverance, to hang on to the single goal lead for the full 98 minutes of play and secure a win that all but sees us safe going into the final two games of the season.

Having made the trip to Doncaster on Good Friday, you would probably forgive me if I said I wasn’t brimming with confidence going into yesterday’s game, the football played by both sides at the Keepmoat Stadium wasn’t exactly flamboyant, Pablo Counago put in one of the least enthusiastic shifts I have seen from any Palace player in living memory, and until he was replaced by Steffen Iversen midway through the 2^nd half we showed absolutely no sign of threatening the home team’s goal.

Despite that, we did manage to gain a clean sheet and with it a very valuable away point, not that the performance did anything to dampen the spirits of our travelling fans, who once again surpassed themselves with their support of the team. Mixed in with all the usual Palace songs, came the reassuring tones of a certain Bob Marley’s classic, “Three Little Birds”, a song which, although not a previous terrace anthem, seemed to sum up exactly what everyone was thinking prior to the game in extremely deft fashion, with the infinitely simple chorus reverberating around the away end periodically before, during, and for some time after the game, thanks to the actions of the Holmesdale Fanatics. For those of you yet to hear this inspired little number, don’t worry about a thing, there will be a link at the end of this blog. (Sorry for the awful joke.)

It was with the lyrics of the reggae classic ringing in my ears that I wandered up the Holmesdale Road with a surprising air of confidence yesterday afternoon. It is a well-known fact that Palace tend to do rather well against the supposed “bigger” sides and with 5,000 Leeds fans already thinking they had the three points in the bag I couldn’t help but have a sneaking suspicion that we were getting ready to upset the apple cart in more ways than one.

Obviously the pre-match nerves still set in just before kick-off but, I had little over a minute of actual football to digest before I was bouncing up and down with joy at having taken the lead. It was a goal which seemed to shellshock Leeds to an extent and without the services of Luciano Becchio the travelling side appeared to be bereft of attacking ideas in the opening 45 minutes. We played some great stuff, and could have been two goals to the good if the extremely hard working Jermaine Easter had managed to keep his close range header on target, not that any of us were complaining when the interval came.

The 2^nd half was a very different affair, Leeds came out having clearly received a severe dressing down from Simon Grayson at the break and began pouring forward in far greater numbers as the game wore on, with the recurring theme throughout the final 30 minutes appearing to be both teams taking part in a pre-arranged training game of defence versus attack in which we sat inside our own box and invited the away side to have an infinite amount of chances to wipe away our clean sheet.

When the game finally reached the 90^th minute, the fourth official took it upon himself to crank up the anxiety to inhumane levels by informing the 20,000 strong crowd that there would be a further five minutes of additional time, which, with Claude Davis on the pitch meant literally anything was still potentially possible inside our box. Having seen out the five minutes, Neil Danns flew into a challenge on the halfway line which resulted in him being given his marching orders and enabling Leeds to have one final throw of the dice, the ball sailed into our box for what felt like the 1,267^th time in 15 minutes, only for it to find its way clear, prompting the referee to finally bring the game to an end and spark the huge outpourings of aforementioned relief amongst all three of the sold-out home stands.

With Preston relegated, and Sheffield United and Scunthorpe hanging on to their Championship status by goal difference alone, it would take a monumental collapse for us to be playing League 1 football next season, something which, although it is extremely unlikely, I know a lot of the people reading this will still have in the back of their minds.

This season has, just like the one before it, been a roller-coaster of emotions from start to finish, but having seen the team dig in like they did yesterday afternoon I am more positive than ever about the direction this football club is going in. Fans, players, management and owners are truly united as one, there are numerous exciting youngsters coming up through the ranks and we are looking at a full pre-season under a manager who everyone is completely behind in Dougie Freedman, hopefully the formality of Championship survival will arrive in due time and we can really begin to build for the future, but even if the unthinkable happens from here.

“Don’t worry about a thing, cos every little thing, is gonna be alright”

Until next time…

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