Crystal Palace F.C.



Crystal Palace Football Club is a professional football club based in South Norwood, London, that plays in the Premier League, the top tier of English football.

The club was founded in 1905 at the famous Crystal Palace Exhibition building by the owners of the FA Cup Final stadium which was situated inside its historic grounds. Palace played their home games at the Cup Final venue until 1915 when the First World War forced them to move out and play at Herne Hill Velodrome and The Nest. In 1924, the club moved to their current home at Selhurst Park.

Palace have been FA Cup finalists twice, in 1990 and 2016, losing to Manchester United on both occasions. Palace were one of the original founding members of the Premier League. The club enjoyed their best ever top flight season in 1990–91, when they challenged for the English league title, eventually finishing in third place in the top tier, their highest ever league position. Palace were denied a place in Europe at the end of that season due to the partial UEFA ban on English clubs following the Heysel Stadium disaster. The club have been second tier champions twice and hold the record for the most play-off wins for promotion to the top flight, winning the final four times. Palace were also winners of the Full Members Cup in 1991 when they beat Everton in the Wembley final.

In 1973, the club changed its original nickname from "The Glaziers" to "The Eagles" and introduced the red and blue vertical stripes now associated with the club. The club had previously played in claret and blue colours. Palace have rivalries with Brighton & Hove Albion, with whom they contest the M23 derby, and fellow South London clubs Millwall and Charlton Athletic.

History


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

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

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

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

Palace stayed in the top flight from 1969 until 1973, but then experienced great disappointment. Under the management of Malcolm Allison the club was relegated in consecutive seasons, finding itself back in Division Three for the 1974–75 season. It was under Allison that the club became nicknamed "The Eagles" and they enjoyed a run to the semi-final of the 1975-76 FA Cup, beating Leeds and Chelsea along the way. Allison was sacked at the end of the 1975–76 campaign, and it was under Terry Venables' management that Palace were promoted in 1976–77 and again in 1978–79, the latter saw the club crowned as Division Two champions. That team from 1979 was dubbed " The team of the Eighties" and were briefly top of the whole Football League in the early part of the 1979–80 season, before financial difficulties suffered by the club caused the break up of that talented side, and this ultimately led to the club being unable to maintain their position in the top tier. They were relegated from the First Division in 1980–81, coinciding with Ron Noades takeover of the club. Steve Coppell arrived as manager on 4 June 1984, and under his stewardship and rebuilding the club achieved promotion via the play-offs back to the First Division in 1988–89. The club followed this up by reaching the 1990 FA Cup Final, drawing 3–3 with Manchester United in the first match but losing the replay 1–0. The club built on the success of the previous season in 1990–91 by achieving its highest league finish of third place in the top tier. Palace were denied a European place at the end of that season due to the partial UEFA ban on English clubs caused by the Heysel Stadium disaster. The club had also returned to Wembley to win the Full Members Cup. The club beat Everton 4–1 (after extra time) in the final. The following season saw star striker Ian Wright leave the club for Arsenal. Palace finished tenth, allowing the club to become a founding member of the FA Premier League in 1992–93.

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

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

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

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

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

During the close season CPFC 2010, a consortium consisting of several wealthy fans successfully negotiated the purchase of the club. Led by Steve Parish, the vocal representative for a consortium of four that also included Stephen Browett, Jeremy Hosking and Martin Long. Crucially, the consortium also secured the freehold of the ground, and paid tribute to a fans' campaign which helped pressure Lloyds Bank into selling the ground back to the club. The consortium swiftly installed George Burley as the Eagles' new manager. However a poor start to the season saw the club hovering around the bottom of the table by December. On 1 January 2011, after a 3–0 defeat to Millwall, Burley was sacked and his assistant Dougie Freedman named caretaker manager. Freedman was appointed manager on a full-time basis on 11 January 2011. Palace moved up the table and by securing a 1–1 draw at Hull City on 30 April, the club was safe from relegation with one game of the season left. After another year and a half as manager, Freedman departed to manage Bolton Wanderers on 23 October 2012.

In November 2012, Ian Holloway became the club's manager. He guided Palace back to the Premier League after an 8-year absence by defeating Watford 1–0 in the Championship Play-Off Final at the new Wembley. On 23 October 2013, Holloway left his post as manager on mutual consent terms. This came after only managing one win in the first nine games of the 2013–14 season. Assistant manager Keith Millen was named caretaker manager while Palace searched for a new manager. On 23 November 2013, former Stoke City boss Tony Pulis was confirmed as the new manager of Crystal Palace. On 19 April 2014, Crystal Palace ensured they were mathematically safe from relegation from the Premier League for the first time in five attempts. Pulis resigned on 14 August 2014, just two days before the start of the 2014–15 season and was replaced by Neil Warnock who returned to the club for a second spell as manager. However, Warnock was sacked by the club at Christmas after a poor run of results. On 2 January 2015, former Palace player Alan Pardew was confirmed as the new manager, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract with the club after a compensation package of £3.5 million was agreed with Newcastle United. Pardew guided the club to comfortable mid-table safety and a third consecutive season in the Premier League.

During the following season, Pardew led Palace to their first FA Cup Final for twenty-six years. Their opponents would be Manchester United again, who they lost to back in the 1990 final. But Palace would suffer disappointment again when they lost 2–1 after extra time. On 22 December 2016, Pardew was sacked by the club for its poor run of results in the start of the 2016–17 campaign. On 23 December 2016, Sam Allardyce was appointed as the new manager of the club under a two and a half year contract with immediate effect. On 26 December 2016, Allardyce took charge of his first match as manager of Crystal Palace against Watford, in which the result was a 1–1 draw. However, after a continuing run of poor form which saw Palace pick up only one league win in eight, the club remained in the relegation zone. Allardyce's influence finally began to yield results beginning with a 1-0 home victory over Middlesbrough on 25 February 2017. The Eagles thus began an excellent run of form in which they achieved victories over Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool to pull themselves up the table. A trio of losses however - including a 2-0 home defeat against Burnley - made for a tense finale to the season. Palace secured their survival in emphatic style, though, with a 4-0 victory over Hull City on 14 May 2017, their last home game of the season. Allardyce resigned unexpectedly at the end of the season, citing a wish to spend time away from the game. On 26 June 2017, Palace appointed their first ever foreign manager on a permanent basis when Frank de Boer signed a three-year contract with the club.

Colours and crest
When Crystal Palace were founded in 1905, they turned to one of the biggest clubs in the country at the time, Aston Villa, to seek advice. Villa helped the club in a number of ways, not least by donating their kit. As a result, Palace's colours were originally claret and blue shirts paired with white shorts, socks tending to be claret. They kept to this formula fairly consistently until 1938. The 1937–38 strip saw them try vertical stripes of claret and blue on the jersey rather than the claret body and blue sleeves, but in 1938 they decided to abandon the claret and blue and adopt white shirts and black shorts with matching socks. Although they returned to claret and blue from 1949 to 1954, the 1955 season saw them return to white and black, now using claret and blue as trim.

There were variations on this theme until 1963 when the club adopted the away strip of yellow jersey as the home colours. In 1964 the club adopted an all-white strip modelled on Real Madrid whom the club had played recently in a friendly, before they returned to claret and blue jerseys with white shorts in 1966. The club continued with variations on this theme up until Malcolm Allison's arrival as manager in 1973. Allison overhauled the club's image, adopting red and blue vertical stripes for colours and kit, inspired by Barcelona and Levante. The club have played in variations of red and blue ever since, bar the centenary season of 2005 which saw them deploy a version of their 1971–72 claret, blue and white kit.

The club were relatively late in establishing a crest. Although the initials were embroidered onto the shirt from the 1935–36 season, a crest featuring the façade of The Crystal Palace did not appear until 1955. This crest disappeared from the shirt in 1964, and the team's name appeared embroidered on shirts in 1967–72. 1972 saw a round badge adopted with the club's initials and nickname "the Glaziers" before Allison changed this too. The nickname became "the Eagles", inspired by Portuguese club Benfica, and the badge adopted an eagle holding a ball. This emblem remained until 1987 when the club married the eagle with the Crystal Palace façade, and although updated in 1996 and again in 2013 the crest retains these features. Since mid-2010, the club has made use of an American bald eagle, called Kayla, as the club mascot, with the bird flying from one end of the stadium to the other at every home game.

Kit manufacturers and sponsors
Since 2014 Crystal Palace's kit has been manufactured by Macron. Previous manufacturers include Umbro (1975–77), Admiral (1977–80, 1987–88, 2003–04), Adidas (1980–83, 1996–99), Hummel (1984–87), Bukta (1988–92), Ribero (1992–94) Nutmeg (1994–96), TFG Sports (1999–2001) Le Coq Sportif (2001–03), Diadora (2004–07), Errea (2007–09), Nike (2009–12), and Avec (2012–14). The club's shirts are currently sponsored by ManBetX, and have previously been sponsored by Red Rose (1983–84), Top Score (1985–86), AVR (1986–87), Andrew Copeland (1987–88), Fly Virgin (1988–91), Tulip Computers (1991–93), TDK (1993–99), Churchill Insurance (2000–06), GAC Logistics (2006–14), Neteller (2014–15), and Mansion.com (2015–17)

Stadium
In 1905, the Crystal Palace Company who owned the FA Cup Final venue situated inside the grounds of The Crystal Palace, wanted a professional club to play there and tap into the crowd potential of the area. They formed a new club called Crystal Palace F.C., to play at the stadium. When the First World War broke out the Palace and grounds were seized by the armed forces, and in 1915 the club were forced to move by the Admiralty. They found a temporary base at the Herne Hill Velodrome. Although other clubs had offered the use of their ground to Palace, the club felt it best to remain as close to their natural catchment area as possible. When Croydon Common F.C. were wound up in 1917, the club took over their old stadium at the Nest, but in 1919 they began the purchase of the land on which they would eventually build Selhurst Park, their current home.

The renowned stadium architect, Archibald Leitch, was employed to draw up plans, and the club constructed and completed the ground in time for the 1924–25 season. It remained relatively unchanged, with only the introduction of floodlights and maintenance and updating until 1969 when the Arthur Wait stand was constructed. The Main Stand became all-seater in 1979 and more work followed in the 1980s when the Whitehorse Lane End was redeveloped to allow for a Sainsbury's supermarket, club offices and a club shop. The Arthur Wait stand became all seater in 1990, and in 1994 the Holmesdale Terrace was redeveloped, replaced with a two tier Stand. Selhurst's attendance record was set in 1979, with an official total of 51,482. After all the redevelopments to the ground and safety requirements due to the Taylor Report, the ground's current capacity is 26,309. Proposals were put forward to move the club back to the Crystal Palace National Stadium in 2010, but after the club gained promotion to the Premier League in 2013 there has been a renewed focus on redeveloping their current home into a 40,000 seater stadium.

Support base
Crystal Palace have a fan base drawn predominantly from the local area which draws on South London, Kent, and Surrey. The club's original home, at The Crystal Palace, was on the boundary with Kent, while Selhurst Park was within Surrey's borders until the London Government Act 1963 saw Greater London encompass Croydon. The club's passionate support at home games emanates from the Holmesdale Road Stand, in which the ultras group the Holmesdale Fanatics have been based since 2005.

The fans have established at least two other supporters groups. The Palace Independent Supporters' Association was set up to raise supporter concerns with the club, while the Crystal Palace Supporters' Trust was originally established to enable fans to purchase the club during the administration of 2000. The Trust remained in existence, and now lists one of its aims as building "a new state-of-the-art training ground to lease to the Club".

A number of fanzines have been produced by the fans over the years. Eagle Eye launched in 1987 and ran until 1994, with a number of contributors launching the replacement Palace Echo in 1995, running until 2007. The Eastern Eagles, So Glad You're Mine and One More Point were also published by fans in the 1990s. When One More Point ceased publication, Five Year Plan launched in its place, and maintains an online presence. Supporters also congregate on two internet forums, The BBS and Holmesdale.net which the club use as channels to communicate with fans.

Being a London club means they compete against a number of other local clubs for the attention of supporters but the club does have a recognisably large catchment area of 900,000. When the new owners took control of the club in 2010, they sought the fans' input into future decisions. They consulted on a new badge design, and when their chosen designs were rejected the club instead opted for a design based on a fans' idea from an internet forum. The club are also strengthening their ties with the local community, and through the Crystal Palace F.C. Foundation they work with local London boroughs of Croydon, Bromley and Sutton to provide sports and educational programmes. Through this work the club hope to develop their supporter base and geographical base. The Foundation's work was recognised by the Football League in August 2009 with their Silver Standard Community Scheme Award.

The club also maintains a sizeable celebrity support. The Rolling Stones guitarist Bill Wyman has been an avid supporter of the club all his life. Kevin Day and Jo Brand host an annual comedy night for Comic Relief and the Palace Academy, and the club also count fellow comedians Eddie Izzard, Harry Enfield, Sean Hughes, Mark Steel, Jim Piddock, and Roy Hudd amongst their fans. Film director Paul Greengrass is a self-confessed fan. The late Ronnie Corbett had also been a lifelong supporter of the club. The actor Neil Morrissey developed Palace Ale, a beer on sale in the ground, while actor Bill Nighy is patron of the CPSCC, a Crystal Palace-based charity. Two of the stars of The Inbetweeners, James Buckley and Simon Bird are also Palace fans. Radio DJ David Jensen is chairman of the Crystal Palace Vice Presidents Club and acted as spokesman for the CPFC 2010 consortium during their takeover bid for the club. Also, the heavy metal journalist Dave Ling is a passionate follower. Actor, writer and producer John Salthouse was on the books of Crystal Palace from 1968 to 1970, and was also a mascot for the club as a child. He incorporated the club into his role as Tony in Abigail's Party he was under the name of John Lewis at Palace. Susanna Reid revealed her love of Palace while taking part in Strictly Come Dancing, visiting Selhurst Park for inspiration. Rebecca Lowe, currently the host of Premier League coverage for NBC Sports, is also a supporter.

Rivalries
Due to their location in the capital, Crystal Palace are involved in a number of local derbies, mostly across South London. They enjoy rivalries with both Millwall and former tenants Charlton Athletic. They have a fierce rivalry with Brighton & Hove Albion which did not develop until Palace's relegation to the Third Division in 1974, reaching its height when the two teams were drawn together in the first round of the 1976–77 FA Cup. The game went to two replays, but the controversy was based on referee Ron Challis ordering a successful Brighton penalty be retaken because of Palace player encroachment. The retake was saved, Palace won the game 1–0 and a fierce rivalry was born.

Ownership
Due to the Football League not wishing the owners of the FA Cup Final to also own a team, a separate company was established to found and own the team. The first chairman, Sydney Bourne, was found by club secretary Edmund Goodman after he had examined records of FA Cup Final ticket purchasers. Goodman noted his name as one that had bought a number of tickets every year, and so he met with Bourne and found him very agreeable to the idea of the new club. Bourne was invited onto the board of directors and elected chairman at the club's first ever meeting. Bourne remained chairman until his death in 1930.

Arthur Wait established a consortium of seven businessmen to purchase the club in 1949, and initially they rotated the chairmanship. In 1958 Wait became the Chairman, before being replaced by Raymond Bloye in 1972. Bloye's ownership lasted until 26 January 1981, when property developer Ron Noades and his small consortium took control of the club. Noades eventually sold the club to Mark Goldberg on 5 June 1998, becoming the second longest serving chairman behind Sydney Bourne. Goldberg's tenure of the club was not a success and the club entered administration in March 1999. Although the fans established a group, the Crystal Palace Supporters' Trust in a bid to gain control of the club, millionaire Simon Jordan negotiated a deal with creditors and the administrator, and a new company, CPFC 2000 took control. This company entered administration in January 2010, leaving administration in June of that year after a takeover by a consortium of four wealthy fans, CPFC 2010.

CPFC 2010 was established by a consortium of four businessmen, Steve Parish, Martin Long, Stephen Browett and Jeremy Hosking in 2010, with each owning a 25% share of the company. The four successfully negotiated a take-over with the administrator Brendan Guilfoyle and a company voluntary arrangement was formally accepted by company creditors on 20 August 2010. CPFC 2010 also purchased the ground from Lloyds Bank after a demonstration by fans put pressure on the bank to agree terms.

On 18 December 2015, it was announced that a new deal had been signed with American investors Josh Harris and David Blitzer. The club stated that Steve Parish would continue as chairman alongside Harris and Blitzer as general partners in a new structure, and that Browett, Long and Hosking would also retain a substantial investment.

Later company accounts showed that the ownership figures were: Steve Parish 18%, Steve Browett 5%, Jeremy Hosking 5% and Martin Long 2.5% with the remainder being owned by Palace Holdco LP (a limited partnership registered in Delaware) 67.5% and Palace Parallel LLC (a company also registered in Delaware) 1.5%. Both Palace Holdco and Palace Parallel have 180 preference shares each. As the Delaware companies do not have to reveal their owners the exact ownership of the club is therefore unknown but Steve Parish confirmed that each of Harris and Blitzer had an 18% share to match his own.

Statistics and records
Jim Cannon holds the record for Crystal Palace appearances, having played 660 first-team matches between 1973 and 1988. He also holds the record for most League appearances, making 571. Cannon joined the club as a trainee, and of his appearances only four of them were made as a substitute. His first appearance was made aged 19, scoring in a home win against Chelsea on 31 March 1973. Cannon's last game was on 7 May 1988, a home win against Manchester City. Peter Simpson holds the record for the most goals scored in a season, 54 in the 1930–31 season in Division Three (South). Simpson, who signed for the club from Kettering Town, is also the top scorer over a career – 165 between 1929 and 1935. Mile Jedinak holds the club record for most international caps, with 37 appearances for Australia while at Palace.

Crystal Palace hold a number of records and achievements. They are one of only a small group of clubs to have been inaugural champions of a Football League Division, winning the newly formed Third Division in 1920–21. Their average league attendance of 19,092 achieved in the 1960–61 season and the attendance of 37,774 for the Good Friday game at Selhurst Park between Palace and Millwall the same season are Fourth Division attendance records. The club's widest victory margin in the league was their 9–0 win against Barrow in the Fourth Division in 1959, while their heaviest defeat in the league was by the same scoreline, 9–0, against Liverpool in 1989 in Division One.

Palace's record home attendance is 51,482 for a Division Two match against Burnley, achieved on 11 May 1979. With the introduction of regulations enforcing all-seater stadiums, it is unlikely that this record will be beaten in the foreseeable future. The highest transfer fee received for a Palace player is £28million, from Everton for Yannick Bolasie in August 2016, while the highest transfer fee paid by the club to date was for Christian Benteke from Liverpool also in August 2016, for £32 million. The club's highest ever league finish so far is third place in the Football League First Division which is now called the Premier League achieved in 1990–91, under the management of Steve Coppell. The club have been FA Cup finalists twice in 1990 and 2016, finishing runners-up on both occasions and have also reached the semi-finals on two other occasions. Palace have reached the semi-finals of the League Cup four times, most recently in 2012. The club were winners of the Full Members Cup in 1991.

Palace were relegated in the 1992–93 season on 49 points which is still a Premier League record number of points for a relegated club. Palace also remain the only team ever to be relegated from the Premier League even though they finished fourth from bottom in the 1994–95 season. This was because it had been decided that the following season would see the Premier League reduced from 22 teams down to the current standard of 20. Palace hold the record for relegations from the Premier League along with Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Norwich City with a total of 4, (1992–93, 1994–95, 1997–98, 2004–05), but conversely they also hold the record for most Play off wins resulting in promotion to the top flight amassing 4 Play off victories, and they hold the record (in any division) for winning promotion via the Play offs at 4 different locations, (Selhurst Park 1989, Old Wembley 1997, Millennium Stadium 2004 and New Wembley 2013).

Development squad
Crystal Palace Reserves joined the London League in the year 1906–07. Crystal Palace has gained a reputation for their academy which produced players such as Wilfried Zaha, Nathaniel Clyne, Victor Moses, Wayne Routledge, Ben Watson, Clinton Morrison, Gareth Southgate etc.

Notable former players

 * Players with over 100 appearances for Crystal Palace can be found here
 * All past (and present) players who are the subjects of Wikipedia articles can be found here

Crystal Palace "Centenary XI"
To celebrate Crystal Palace's centenary in 2005, the club asked Palace fans to vote for a "Centenary XI" from a shortlist of ten players per position, provided by the club.
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nigel Martyn (1989–96)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Paul Hinshelwood (1974–83)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Chris Coleman (1991–95)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Jim Cannon (1972–88)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Kenny Sansom (1975–80)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 John Salako (1986–95)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Geoff Thomas (1987–93)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Andy Gray (1984–87,1989–92)
 * 🇮🇹 Attilio Lombardo (1997–99)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Andrew Johnson (2002–06, 2014)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ian Wright (1985–91)

Managers

 * As of matches played 21 May 2017. Not including caretaker managers. All competitive matches are counted.



Honours
Crystal Palace's honours and achievements include the following;

League

 * English top tier (currently the Premier League)
 * Highest position: 3rd place 1990–91
 * English second tier (currently the EFL Championship)
 * Champions (2): 1978–79, 1993–94
 * Runners-up (1): 1968–69
 * Play-off winners (4): 1988–89, 1996–97, 2003–04, 2012–13
 * Play-off runners-up (1): 1995–96
 * English third tier (currently EFL League One)
 * Champions (1): 1920–21
 * Runners-up (4): 1928–29, 1930–31 (Third Division South), 1938–39 (Third Division South), 1963–64
 * English fourth tier (currently EFL League Two)
 * Runners-up (1): 1960–61

Cup

 * FA Cup
 * Runners-up (2): 1990, 2016
 * Full Members Cup
 * Winners (1): 1991

Wartime

 * South Regional League
 * Champions (1): 1940–41
 * South 'D' Wartime League
 * Champions (1): 1939–40

Regional

 * Southern Football League Division One
 * Runners-up (1): 1913–14
 * Southern Football League Division Two
 * Champions (1): 1905–06
 * United League
 * Champions (1): 1906–07
 * Runners-up (1): 1905–06
 * London Challenge Cup
 * Winners (3): 1912–13, 1913–14, 1920–21
 * Surrey Senior Cup
 * Winners (3): 1996–97, 2000–01, 2001–02

In popular culture
In the 1999 Michael Winterbottom film Wonderland the scenes of the character Dan and his son at a football match were filmed at Selhurst Park, the ground of Crystal Palace, in a 1–1 draw against Birmingham City on 6 February 1999. In the Mike Leigh play Abigail's Party, the character Tony mentions that he used to play professionally for Crystal Palace but it "didn't work out", something actor John Salthouse brought to the character in rehearsals based on his own life. Salthouse also incorporated the club into the children's television series he wrote, Hero to Zero, in which the father of the main character once played for Palace reserves. In the first series of Only Fools and Horses a Crystal Palace scarf could be seen on the coat rack, placed there by producer Ray Butt, even though Rodney's middle name was Charlton, as Del revealed on Rodney’s wedding day: their mother was a fan of “Athletic” not “Heston”. Headmaster Keith Blackwell, who played Crystal Palace mascot "Pete the Eagle" in the late nineties, fronted a series of Coca-Cola advertisements in 1996. Blackwell spoke about his role and the embarrassment it brought to his family, and clips of him in costume were used in the campaign.

Crystal Palace Ladies
Crystal Palace Ladies is the women's football club affiliated to Crystal Palace, founded in 1992. They are managed by Dean Davenport. Crystal Palace Ladies FA Women's Premier League South, in the third tier of English women's football. They play their home games at the Hayes Lane, Bromley, London.