Crystal Palace (football club)

Crystal Palace
	Crystal Palace
Basic data
Surname	Crystal Palace Football Club
Seat	London , England
founding	1905
owner	Steve Parish ; Stephen Browett ; Martin Long ; Jeremy Hosking
Board	Steve Parish ; Stephen Browett
Website	cpfc.co.uk
First soccer team
Head coach	Roy Hodgson
Venue	Selhurst Park
Places	25,747
league	Premier League
2019/20	14th place

Crystal Palace (official: Crystal Palace Football Club , Crystal Palace means "Crystal Palace") - also known as The Eagles (The Eagles ) and originally until 1973 as The Glaziers (The Glaser ) - is a 1905 eponymous building established English football club the capital London . The club colors are blue and red and the home ground has been Selhurst Park in the southern borough of South Norwood since 1924 . After the first league promotion in 1969 , the club established itself permanently in the top two English leagues from 1977 and since the 2013/14 season he has been back in the Premier League after an eight-year break . The greatest successes in the club's history were the finals in the FA Cup in 1990 and 2016 and third place in the 1990/91 season in the English first division.

history

History of origin

Since 1895, wore English Football Association (FA) his cup finals in the London Athletics Stadium Crystal Palace , which as a sports facility at the nearby Parco same crystal palace belonged from. Since these events were very profitable, the operating company began planning in 1904 to set up its own football club in order to create further opportunities for such lucrative income at home games. Many years earlier, a Crystal Palace team had played in English football. This was one of the first participants in the FA Cup in the 1871/72 season and was only subject to the Royal Engineers in the semi-finals . After four more years in competition, Crystal Palace disappeared again from the football stage, although there had been four English national players in the ranks by 1876. The FA initially rejected the start-up because it was fundamentally skeptical of this project planned by a company. Thanks to the friendship between the General Manager of Crystal Palace JH Cozens and the President of Aston Villa , the influential William McGregor , the project received not only a prominent advocate, but also the former Villa association member Edmund Goodman . Goodmann was entrusted with putting together a team. With Sydney Bourne he also signed the first president and remained with the club itself until 1925 as a club secretary and from 1907 as a coach.

Beginnings in the Southern League (1905-1920)

In 1905, the newly founded football club applied to participate in the Football League , but was rejected. Even in the top division of the Southern League he was not allowed to compete, so the starting point was in the Second Division of the Southern League. The reserve teams of the established first division clubs were mostly represented there and, parallel to the Southern League, Crystal Palace initially played in the United League . Jack Robson , former coach of Middlesbrough FC , became the first person in charge of the sport and he brought a number of familiar players with him to the young club, including Ted Birnie, the former Newcastle United captain . The first game in the Southern League against the second representative of Southampton FC was lost 3: 4, but this defeat was the only one in the entire 1905/06 season, the Crystal Palace before the closest rival Leyton Orient the championship and the associated Promotion to the top division of the Southern League brought. The striker George Woodger , who grew up in the region and who would later even play in the English national team , had become one of the crowd's favorites .

In the 1906/07 season, however, the climber struggled with his form and only finished in penultimate place. In the English Cup, on the other hand, the "Glaziers", as Crystal Palace were called in their early days, recorded some respectable successes and the move into the round of 16 after victories against Newcastle United, Fulham FC and Brentford FC is still one of the greatest achievements in the club's history . Under Edmund Goodman, who took over as coach in the 1907/08 season, the club established itself in the Southern League, with players such as the new goalkeeper Josh Johnson and the Welsh international and winger Bill Davies, brought in from Tottenham Hotspur, largely responsible for the positive trend were expressed in fourth rank in 1908. Although the team fell again the following year to 16th place, but in the following five years until 1914 Crystal Palace never finished a season worse than seventh place in the table. In addition, the club was runner-up in the 1913/14 season only because of the poorer goal quotient behind Swindon Town - was responsible for the fact that on the last day of the game against Gillingham FC only one draw could be achieved. Important players at the time were Charlie Woodhouse , who had replaced Woodger who had migrated to Oldham Athletic until his sudden death in 1911, and Ted Smith , who scored numerous goals.

The First World War took a great toll on Crystal Palace. Since the building and its premises were confiscated for war purposes at short notice in February 1915, the club was no longer allowed to play its home games there. For this purpose, among other things, captain Harry Hanger was called to the front, as were wingers Ben Bateman and John Whibley . From then on, the game was played with both loan and guest players in the rented Herne Hill venue . Since the official game operations in the Southern League and the FA Cup were paused, the club - often without a single player from the pre-war period - competed in the London Combination like many others from the capital . In the 1918/19 season they moved on to the new stadium The Nest , which is opposite the current venue Selhurst Park. It was also the last season in the London Combination and it brought the club with defender Jack Little and goalkeeper Jack Alderson two newcomers who would become future key players at Crystal Palace. These were largely responsible for the fact that the newly formed team achieved a respectable third place in the Southern League in 1920 and at the same time the audience popularity increased suddenly.

Between the two world wars (1920–1939)

For the 1920/21 season, the Football League introduced the third-class Third Division and invited all clubs from the top Southern League division. Crystal Palace started with a 1: 2 defeat against Merthyr Town , but showed themselves to be constant with 16 unbeaten games in a row as the season progressed. These included eight wins in a row before Easter 1921, which ultimately paved the way for promotion to the Second Division as a third division champion . The club carried out a series of modernizations at The Nest stadium and 20,000 spectators saw the first second division match against eventual champions Nottingham Forest (with then international goalkeeper Sam Hardy ), which ended in a spectacular 4-1 win. Finally, there was a secure place in the lower midfield as in the two following years up to 1924. During this time, a new venue was also built. Selhurst Park , designed by well-known architect Archibald Leitch , cost £ 30,000 and although completion did not go according to plan, Crystal Palace played its first second division game against The Wednesday (0-1) in the unfinished stadium on August 30, 1924 . The defeat was the opening of a mixed start to the 1924/25 season. By the end of the year, the Glaziers won only twice and in the end they were relegated to the third division as penultimate .

In the now two-part Third Division, Crystal Palace was not among the serious aspirants for promotion in the southern season and although the team ended up in the top third of the table in the seasons 1926/27 and 1927/28, the gap to the respective champions was clear with 17 points in both years . The coaching office was exercised since 1927 by Fred Maven , who in turn had inherited the hapless Scot Alex Maley since 1925 . Maven made numerous personnel changes in the summer of 1928, hiring future top performers such as Stan Charlton , Tom Crilly and Lewis Griffiths . The newly formed team failed in the 1928/29 season as runner-up just behind the newly promoted Charlton Athletic . Another "club legend" from 1929 was Peter Simpson , who scored 165 goals in 195 competitive games for Palace and won the club's internal scorer rating in five seasons. But despite this new offensive force, the longed-for recovery did not succeed. The disappointing ninth place in the 1929/30 season was followed by another runner-up a year later (although here, too, with quite a large gap to the promoted Notts County ). The years up to the outbreak of World War II brought no significant sporting improvements to Crystal Palace. Special incidents were the suicide of goalkeeper Billy Callender in the summer of 1932 and the withdrawal of Edmund Goodman at the end of the 1932/33 season.

Tom Bromilow joined Crystal Palace in 1935 as the new coach . Under his leadership, the team initially finished in sixth place, before slipping down into the lower half of the table the following year. The last season 1938/39 before the war break ended with another runner-up behind Newport County . Bromilov left the club in the summer of 1939 for Leicester City , succeeding George Irwin , a former Crystal Palace goalkeeper who led the team through the difficult war years.

Post-war years and relegation to the fourth division (1946–1958)

After the war-related interruption of the current 1939/40 season, official game operations were discontinued and English club football only took place in regional leagues. It was not until 1946 that Crystal Palace continued in the Third Division and the ambitions were great from the start. However, the team could not do justice to this. In the 1948/49 season, the Glaziers only finished last and were dependent on the association allowing them to continue participating in the third division through positive re-election. Coach Jack Butler , who had taken over the sporting direction in 1947, finally resigned and the former striker of the reserve team Ronnie Rooke took over as the new player- coach. Under Rooke, the team improved to seventh place in the 1949/50 season , but this placement turned out to be the best in the immediate post-war period. Rooke spent nearly £ 50,000 on new players in the summer of 1950, which was a substantial sum for a third division club at the time. However, the investments were unsuccessful. First, Crystal Palace lost five of the first six games, ended up at the bottom of the table in mid-November 1950 and was eliminated in the FA Cup in the first round against local rivals Millwall FC . A year ago came Rooke from his post and also the following coaching team of Fred Dawes and Charlie Slade could not prevent Crystal Palace the red lantern than at the end tail light not relinquish it. The lack of goals with the club's negative record with 33 goals from 46 games was primarily responsible for the misery.

The worries did not subside at the beginning of the 1951/52 season and in mid-October 1951 the coaching duo left the club. Former England international Laurie Scott took over the steering wheel and although under his direction a bitter cup defeat against the lower class Finchley FC , the thirteenth place in the 1952/53 season meant a significant improvement. However, this upward trend could not be sustained and only one year later the team fell back to 22nd place. This was followed in September 1954 by the dismissal of Laurie Scott and initiated by only one win from the first eleven games, 21st place in the 1954/55 season was the next disappointment. Under the new coach Cyril Spiers , the club realigned its strategy and from then on concentrated more on finding and training young talent, which was not initially rewarded with the penultimate place in the 1955/56 season. The 1957/58 season was a particular challenge for all clubs in the two seasons of the Third Division, as the League Association had decided to introduce a single-track third division and an underlying fourth division . Only the clubs that ended up in the top half of the table qualified for the new third division. Crystal Palace improved to fourteenth place , but this was not enough and from then on the club only played fourth class.

From the fourth to the first division (1958–1969)

After the fall in the "basement league" of English professional football, the goal was a quick return to the higher-class divisions under the new coach George Smith . Smith himself stated that he would step down if he failed to climb within two years. After a promising start to the season against Crewe Alexandra (6: 2), the team could not establish themselves in the further course in the top places and with four points behind Shrewsbury Town Crystal Palace missed its goal in the season 1958/59. In April 1960, when advancement became unreachable in the second year, Smith kept his word and made room for a successor. His name was Arthur Rowe and he had been Smith's assistant. Rowe largely rebuilt team and tactics, which in turn was rewarded with five wins in the first seven games of the 1960/61 season. Ultimately, Crystal Palace won the runner-up behind Peterborough United in 1961 and thus returned to the Third Division. At the same time, Crystal had broken various records during the season. This included 110 league goals (30 from Johnny Byrne alone ) and the 37,774 spectators in the home game against Millwall FC (0: 2) set a fourth division record .

As they marched through the leagues, Crystal Palace then set Rowe's assistant Dick Graham to take the next step. Graham had taken over as head coach from the sick Rowe in December 1962 and in his first full season 1963/64 he was promoted to the second division second division via the third division championship - the club had not played that high for 39 years before. Palace was now in the lower midfield of the Second Division and in January 1966 Graham was fired. He cleared the way for Arthur Rowe to return, who looked after the team on an interim basis before a new permanent solution could be found in April 1966 with Bert Head .

In the following two years until 1968, the team stabilized their performance without developing into a serious aspirant for promotion. In the 1968/69 season, however, club history should be written. Head coach signed winger Colin Taylor , as well as Mel Blyth, another physically strong defender. Together, Crystal Palace started a final spurt from January 1969 until the end of the season, won ten of 16 games and was suddenly close to promotion to the top division. Finally, the team reached the second place in the final table and secured a place in the top English league for the first time in the club's history.

First division experience and the birth of the "Adler" (1969–1984)

Having arrived in the elite league, the club was in for a tough fight to keep up, but with a draw at the beginning of the 1969/70 season against the “big” Manchester United , the Glaziers proved to be competitive. Ultimately, Crystal Palace only had six wins in 42 league games; but this was enough to avert relegation, as Sunderland AFC and Sheffield Wednesday were just behind them. Coach Bert Head then signed a number of newcomers and this had a positive effect at the beginning of the 1970/71 season with four wins from eight encounters. There was also a surprising 1-0 away win at Old Trafford and, last but not least, the team comfortably secured the class with eight points behind the relegation places. Another setback occurred at the beginning of the 1971/72 season with seven defeats from nine games before Head reacted and Alan Birchenhall and Steve Kember sold and in their place Bobby Kellard and John Craven were hired. Kellard in particular was then considered a key player who was able to turn fortunes, quickly became team captain and in the end saved Crystal Palace one more time (now in front of Nottingham Forest and Huddersfield Town ) the fall in the second division. A year later, a similar "show of strength" remained from and despite a coach change in the spring of 1973 to Malcolm Allison Crystal Palace rose as the table penultimate in the Second Division.

The 1973/74 season started with a number of symbolic innovations, including a new coat of arms and the introduction of the nickname "The Eagles", which was used from then on. The 4-1 home defeat in the first game against Notts County was a foretaste of the disastrous season that ended with the highly traded Crystal Palace being passed through to the third division after just eleven wins in 42 games . Despite this disappointment, Allison remained in office and made groundbreaking personnel decisions with the obligations of the two Queens Park Rangers actors Terry Venables and Ian Evans . In terms of sport, this initially had only a limited positive effect, because with fifth place in each of the years 1975 and 1976, the "Eagles" missed the aspired to rise again. During this time, however, one of the greatest successes in the club's history fell, when Crystal Palace as a third division team only failed in the semi-finals of the FA Cup with 0-2 at Southampton FC . On the way there they beat Chelsea FC , Leeds United and Sunderland AFC and were the first third division team to almost reach the final. Allison then left Selhurst Park and the new coach was Venables, who immediately ensured a positive development boost.

Crystal Palace reached the third and final promotion place under Venables in 1977 and left Rotherham United with equal points with a goal difference three goals better. The appearance in the FA Cup against Brighton & Hove Albion was equally sensational , when the victory in the second replay sparked a rivalry between the two clubs that is still active today - the duel was particularly explosive because Venables was in his first coaching position to his former rival Playing times at Tottenham faced Alan Mullery (now Brighton coach). The solid second division season 1977/78 was overshadowed by a serious injury that captain Evans sustained in a duel with George Best of Fulham FC . Evans did not appear in a professional game for two years after a complicated broken leg and in his place the Scot Jim Cannon led the team. Under Cannon, who became a "club legend" with 571 league games, Crystal Palace delivered a remarkable 1978/79 season. On the last day of the match Palace needed a point at home against Burnley FC to rise again in the first division and a win should even bring the second division championship with it. In front of the record crowd of 51,482 spectators, Ian Walsh headed 1-0 about a quarter of an hour before the end to calm the mood and shortly before the final whistle, Dave Swindlehurst ensured the 2-0 final score in favor of Crystal Palace.

In the summer of 1979, the club broke its record transfer fee for the obligations of Gerry Francis and Mike Flanagan twice, and at the end of September 1979, the team that had already been celebrated as the "Team of the 80s" suddenly became top of the league table. Ultimately, one occupied the thirteenth final table rank . The promising approaches were then not continued, because only a year later, the descent followed as bottom of the table , with Venables the "sinking ship" had already left in October 1980 in the direction of the Queens Park Rangers. Crystal Palace never recovered from this early setback and as of November 1980, under three different coaches and with new owner Ron Noades, only two wins in 27 games. Dario Gradi initially remained in office at the beginning of the 1981/82 season and was then replaced by youth coach Steve Kember in mid-November 1981 . Kember led Crystal Palace to a midfield position and many supporters advocated his continued employment. Instead, the club management determined “of all things” the Venables competitor Alan Mullery as his successor. When, in the two years up to 1984, he only led his men disappointingly to fifteenth and eighteenth place, he too was dismissed.

The era of Steve Coppell (1984-1993)

After the less than successful period under Alan Mullery, Steve Coppell was introduced as the new coach in June 1984 . Coppell, who turned 29 the following month, was given the assistance of former captain Ian Evans, and together they went through a difficult first “year of apprenticeship”. The relegation in the second division hung by a thread for a long time and only surprise victories against the promotion aspirants FC Portsmouth and Blackburn Rovers ensured a turnaround for the positive in April 1985. The transfer of Andy Gray turned out to be a stroke of luck . Gray, who had come from the amateur club Dulwich Hamlet , was used in 21 games and together with Ian Wright , who was signed in the summer of 1985 and who had also been outside the professional leagues, Crystal Palace improved significantly to fifth place in the final table - Wright and Gray had together contributed 19 goals to the success. Coppell's team went into the new 1986/87 season with increased expectations and these were quickly nourished when a "Notelf" defeated FC Barnsley 3-2 away on the first day of the game. With Mark Bright , another dangerous offensive force was added. Regardless of this, Crystal Palace failed to score a goal in more than half of the away games, which in the end was partly responsible for the fact that qualification for the promotion playoffs was missed. A lack of accuracy was no longer a problem and 44 of the 86 league goals in the 1987/88 season were attributable to the Wright / Bright team. The new addition in midfield Geoff Thomas was a significant reinforcement. In the 1988/89 season, the Wright-Bright duo repeated its yield of 44 championship goals. Crystal Palace started a final spurt in March 1989, which began in 13th place and ended in third place in the table after the last matchday . The direct promotion was missed by only one point, but the return to the top English league was achieved via the detour of the playoff games. In this context, the final against Blackburn Rovers was an exciting affair, because the Eagles had to catch up 1: 3 in the first leg, which they finally managed with a 3-0 thanks to two goals from Ian Wright and a penalty from David Madden .

Copell brought back Gray, who had meanwhile migrated, for the 1989/90 season. After the first five games, Crystal Palace was humiliated 9-0 at Liverpool FC , which led to the signing of goalkeeper Nigel Martyn (who thus became the first British "million keeper") and defender Andy Thorn . The defensive performances stabilized and in the end the class was secured in fifteenth place . However, the club gained much more attention when it made it to the FA Cup final . There, the first spectacular game after twice leading against favorites Manchester United ended 3: 3 after extra time, before the replay ended less sensationally 0: 1 after a goal in the 59th minute by Lee Martin with a defeat. The disappointment did not last long, because the 1990/91 season was the most successful in the history of Crystal Palace. In the end, the team reached third place, the highest league placement ever achieved. "Top-class players" like Manchester United, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest were beaten at home and the aspiring Leeds United were defeated 2-1 away . In addition, the club won the ZDS Cup with a 4-1 final win at Wembley Stadium against FC Everton .

Ian Wright's departure to Arsenal in the summer of 1991 heralded a sporting downward trend. Although Coppell's men occupied a secure midfield position in the last first division season when the Premier League was introduced , a year later they went back to the second division after only one year in the new Premier League. On the last day of the game, the Eagles needed a point at Arsenal to keep them up. However, the project failed and in the 3-0 defeat Ian Wright also met his old employer. Crystal Palace had collected 49 points, which was a record result for a Premier League relegated team, but the three final victories of the competitor Oldham Athletic in particular had a fatal effect. Just days after relegation, Coppell resigned as coach of Crystal Palace.

From rising back to bankruptcy (1993-2000)

For Coppell's successor, former assistant Alan Smith was chosen as the obvious solution . Smith had already accompanied the team as Coppell's "right hand" through the first division years and also gave the immediate return to the Premier League as a direct goal - although important players such as Geoff Thomas (to Wolverhampton Wanderers ) and Eddie McGoldrick (to Arsenal FC) left the club. This fact and a disappointing start to the season - first a 0-0 in the opening game against outsider Tranmere Rovers and then a 2-0 at Bristol City - did not cause lasting problems and Crystal Palace returned to the top of the table with five wins in a row. The team stayed in the top four for the rest of the season and by Easter 1994 their promotion goal was practically achieved. In addition, a 3-2 away win at FC Middlesbrough on May 1, 1994 for the early win of the second division championship . However, the second Premier League season was not crowned with success and fourth from last place was not enough for relegation. A 3-2 defeat at Newcastle United ultimately sealed relegation, which was also due to the fact that the Premier League was reduced from 22 to 20 participants, thereby increasing the number of relegated teams.

The new coach for the 1995 season was Ray Lewington and Steve Coppell as the new technical director. However, the performances on the square were very mixed and in early February 1996 Lewington was replaced by Dave Bassett . Immediately an improvement began under Bassett. Crystal Palace remained undefeated in March 1996 with six wins and two draws and was back in the top group. However, some defeats then cost a placement on the direct promotion ranks and in the playoff games the team had to admit defeat Leicester City (1: 2) in the final when Steve Claridge made the decision in extra time. A year later, Crystal Palace was in the play-off final again in May 1997. This was preceded by Coppell's comeback as a coach after Bassett left the club for Nottingham Forest. Now Crystal Palace had the better end for themselves in the final , when David Hopkin made it 1-0 against Sheffield United in the last minute . Hopkin moved immediately for 3.5 million pounds to Leeds United , while with Attilio Lombardo from Juventus a spectacular commitment was made. But even at the third attempt , the class could not be held in the Premier League. A series of eight championship defeats between January and March 1998 ensured Coppell's resignation and Lombardo took over the post of player- coach until the end of the season . From then on, the Italian managed the team's skills together with the Swede Tomas Brolin , but was not very successful.

During an eventful summer 1998, Mark Goldberg took over the majority of the club's shares. In one of the first official acts, he engaged the former successful coach Terry Venables and together they played for the first time European duels in the UI Cup against Turkish Samsunspor , which ended with two 0-2 defeats. The league results also left a lot to be desired and the financial situation continued to worsen. By November 1998 Goldberg implemented a strict austerity program and dismissed Venables and his expensive coaching team. In January 1999, Coppell took over the coaching job again and with a very young team he reached a midfield position in the second division. In March 1999 insolvency proceedings were opened about the club, which then extended over the entire 1999/2000 season. Goldberg had already resigned at the beginning of the season and the popular Peter Morley was his successor. In the meantime, Coppell had consolidated his sporting achievements a little, which was mainly due to his skillful approach to loan transactions. Among them were experienced people like Terry Phelan and youngsters like Ashley Cole and Mikael Forssell , who played a big part in keeping Crystal Palace up.

After 16 months, a new buyer was finally found for the club. An association of supporters of the club called "The Crystal Palace Supporters' Trust" had repeatedly given the club a helping hand before the millionaire Simon Jordan left the club as chairman of the new company called "Crystal Palace 2000" Bankruptcy triggered.

Development from 2000

2004 followed the renewed promotion to the Premier League. After only one season, 2005 went back to the second English league, now called the Football League Championship . There the team finished sixth in the 2005/06 season and thus reached the play-offs for promotion to the Premier League, but failed in the first play-off round at Watford FC .

In 2006 the club founded a twin club in the USA. Crystal Palace Baltimore played in the USSF Division 2 Professional League , the second highest division in the US , until it was dissolved in 2010 .

During the 2009/10 season, the club had to file for bankruptcy. He still took part in the game operation of the Football League Championship. Crystal Palace received a penalty in the form of a deduction of 10 points from the association, but just managed to stay in the league.

In the 2012/13 season, the club managed under coach Ian Holloway on May 27, 2013 in the play-off final with a 1-0 win (n. V.) against Watford FC promotion to the Premier League . Previously, they had prevailed in the semi-finals of the play-offs against Brighton in the two legs.

Back in the Premier League: From 2013

Palace is considered a classic elevator club and has never been able to hold the class since the Premier League was founded in 1992, so a very difficult Premier League season was expected. Under manager Ian Holloway only one of the first 9 games could be won. In October Holloway left the club, after which Keit Millen took over the managerial position on an interim basis. In November, Tony Pulis , previously a long-time successful coach of Stoke City , was signed for the post. Under his leadership, Crystal Palace succeeded in reversing the trend, and by mid-April they were already saved from relegation.

Before the start of the 2014/15 season , however, Pulis fell out with the club's management and left the club. As a successor they signed somewhat surprisingly experienced trainer Neil Warnock . Palace also had great difficulties at the beginning of this season and found themselves mostly on the relegation ranks. In January Warnock was finally replaced by Alan Pardew , who was bought out of his contract with Newcastle United . Under Pardew, the results improved and Palace was able to celebrate relegation relatively early. The highlight was Steven Gerrard's last home game for Liverpool FC at Anfield Road 3-1.

Squad for the 2019/20 season

As of January 19, 2020

No.	Nat.	Surname	birthday	in the team since	Contract until
goal
13	Wales	Wayne Hennessey	76898930200 ♠Jan. 24, 1987	2014	2021
19th	Ireland	Stephen Henderson	76947489250 ♠0May 2, 1988	2019	2020
31	Spain	Vicente Guaita	76897627850 ♠Jan. 10, 1987	2018	2021
Defense
02	England	Joel Ward	77003583325 ♠Oct 29, 1989	2012	2021
03	Netherlands	Patrick van Aanholt	77036328125 ♠Aug 29, 1990	2017	2021
05	England	James Tomkins	76982745725 ♠29 Mar 1989	2016	2021
06th	England	Scott then	76900976750 ♠Feb. 14, 1987	2014	2020
12	France	Mamadou Sakho	77016978925 ♠Feb 13, 1990	2017	2021
15th	Ghana	Jeffrey Schlupp	77125073975 ♠23 Dec 1992	2017	2021
24	England	Gary Cahill	76853813075 ♠Dec. 19, 1985	2019	2021
34	England	Martin Kelly	77024234875 ♠Apr. 27, 1990	2014	2021
35	England	Sam Woods ^U23	77347217675 ♠Sep 11 1998	2019	2022
midfield
04th	Serbia	Luka Milivojevic (C)	77061072775 ♠0Apr 7, 1991	2017	2020
07th	Germany	Max Meyer	77231773650 ♠Sep 18 1995	2018	2021
08th	Senegal	Cheikhou Kouyate	77008792725 ♠Dec 21, 1989	2018	2022
10	England	Andros Townsend	77070840400 ♠July 16, 1991	2016	2021
18th	Scotland	James McArthur	76924139975 ♠0Oct 7, 1987	2014	2021
22nd	Ireland	James McCarthy	77043677100 ♠Nov 12, 1990	2019	2022
40	England	Brandon Pierrick ^U18	77472150250 ♠Dec 10, 2001
44	Netherlands	Jaïro Riedewald	77269634825 ♠0Sep 9 1996	2017	2022
Storm
09	Ghana	Jordan Ayew	77076328875 ♠Sep 11 1991	2019	2023
11	Ivory Coast	Wilfried Zaha	77120887850 ♠Nov 10, 1992	2015	2023
17th	Belgium	Christian Benteke	77045816675 ♠0Dec. 3, 1990	2016	2020
20th	Turkey	Cenk Tosun	77067026375 ♠0June 7, 1991	2020	2022
21st	England	Connor Wickham	77137725375 ♠31 Mar 1993	2015	2020

Well-known former players

Player of the Year (since 1971)

Since 1972, the club supporters have chosen their player of the year every year at the end of the season.

year	winner
1972	Scotland John McCormick
1973	Scotland Tony Taylor
1974	England Peter Taylor
1975	England Derek Jeffries
1976	England Peter Taylor
1977	England Kenny Sansom
1978	Scotland Jim Cannon
1979	England Kenny Sansom
1980	England Paul Hinshelwood
1981	England Paul Hinshelwood

year	winner
1982	England Paul Barron
1983	Ireland Jerry Murphy
1984	England Billy Gilbert
1985	Scotland Jim Cannon
1986	Scotland George Wood
1987	Scotland Jim Cannon
1988	England Geoff Thomas
1989	England Ian Wright
1990	England Mark Bright
1991	England Geoff Thomas

year	winner
1992	Ireland Eddie McGoldrick
1993	England Andy Thorn
1994	Wales Chris Coleman
1995	England Richard Shaw
1996	England Andy Roberts
1997	Scotland David Hopkin
1998	England Marc Edworthy
1999	England Hayden Mullins
2000	England Andy Linighan
2001	China People's Republic Fan Zhiyi

year	winner
2002	Scotland Dougie Freedman
2003	England Hayden Mullins
2004	England Andy Johnson
2005	England Andy Johnson
2006	Barbados Emmerson Boyce
2007	Guyana Leon Cort
2008	Argentina Julián Speroni
2009	Argentina Julián Speroni
2010	Argentina Julián Speroni
2011	England Nathaniel Clyne

year	winner
2012	Norway Jonathan Parr
2013	Australia Mile Jedinak
2014	Argentina Julián Speroni
2015	England Scott then
2016	Ivory Coast Wilfried Zaha
2017	Ivory Coast Wilfried Zaha
2018	Ivory Coast Wilfried Zaha

Record player

As of June 30, 2018

Calls
1	Scotland Jim Cannon	1971-1988	660
2	England Terry Long	1955-1970	480
3	England Albert Harry	1921-1934	440
4th	Argentina Julián Speroni	2004–	403
5	England John Jackson	1962-1973	388
6th	Scotland Dougie Freedman	1995-1997, 2000-2008	368
7th	England Nigel Martyn	1989-1996	349
8th	England Simon Rodger	1990-2002	328
9	England Paul Hinshelwood	1971-1983	319
10	England David Payne	1964-1973	318

Gates
1	Scotland Peter Simpson	1929-1935	165
2	England Ted Smith	1911-1920	124
3	England Ian Wright	1985-1991	117
4th	England Mark Bright	1986-1992	113
4th	Ireland Clinton Morrison	1997-2002, 2005-2008	113
6th	Scotland Dougie Freedman	1995-1997, 2000-2008	108
7th	England George Clarke	1925-1933	106
8th	England Johnny Byrne	1956-1962, 1967-1968	101
9	England Albert Dawes	1933-1936, 1938-1939	92
10	England Andy Johnson	2002–2006, 2014–2015	85

List of trainers

England Jack Robson (1905-1907)
England Edmund Goodman (1907-1925)
Scotland Alex Maley (1925-1927)
England Fred Maven (1927-1930)
England Jack Tresadern (1930-1935)
England Tom Bromilow (1935-1936)
Scotland RS Moyes (1936)
England Tom Bromilow (1936-1939)
England George Irwin (1939-1947)
England Jack Butler (1947-1949)
England Ronnie Rooke (1949-1950)
England Charlie Slade (1950–1951)
England Laurie Scott (1951-1954)
England Cyril Spiers (1954-1958)
England George Smith (1958-1960)
England Arthur Rowe (1960–1962)
England Dick Graham (1962-1966)
England Arthur Rowe (1966)
England Bert Head (1966–1973)
England Malcolm Allison (1973-1976)
England Terry Venables (1976-1980)
England Ernie Walley (1980)
England Malcolm Allison (1980-1981)
England Dario Gradi (1981)
England Steve Kember (1981-1982)
England Alan Mullery (1982-1984)
England Steve Coppell (1984-1993)
England Alan Smith (1993-1995)
England Steve Coppell (1995-1996)
England Dave Bassett (1996-1997)
England Steve Coppell (1997-1998)
Italy Attilio Lombardo (1998)
England Terry Venables (1998-1999)
England Steve Coppell (1999-2000)
England Alan Smith (2000-2001)
England Steve Bruce (2001)
England Trevor Francis (2001-2003)
England Steve Kember (2003)
Northern Ireland Iain Dowie (2003-2006)
England Peter Taylor (2006-2007)
England Neil Warnock (2007-2010)
England Paul Hart (2010)
Scotland George Burley (2010-2011)
Scotland Dougie Freedman (2011-2012)
England Ian Holloway (2012-2013)
England Tony Pulis (2013-2014)
England Neil Warnock (2014)
England Alan Pardew (2015-2016)
England Sam Allardyce (from 2016-2017)
Netherlands Frank de Boer (2017)
England Roy Hodgson (since 09/2017)

successes

FA Cup finalist:
- 1989/90 , 2015/16
First Division Champions:
- 1993/94
Second Division Champions:
- 1978/79
Third Division South Champions:
- 1920/21
Full Members Cup Winner:
- 1991

League affiliation

1920/21: Football League Third Division
1921–1925: Football League Second Division
1925–1958: Football League Third Division
1958–1961: Football League Fourth Division
1961–1964: Football League Third Division
1964–1969: Football League Second Division
1969–1973: Football League First Division
1973/74: Football League Second Division
1974–1977: Football League Third Division
1977–1979: Football League Second Division
1979–1981: Football League First Division
1981–1989: Football League Second Division
1989–1992: Football League First Division
1992/93: Premier League
1993/94: Football League First Division
1994/95: Premier League
1995–1997: Football League First Division
1997/98: Premier League
1998-04: Football League First Division
2004/05: Premier League
2005-2013: Football League Championship
since 2013: Premier League

Trivia

The name is derived from the exhibition building of the first world exhibition in 1851, the Crystal Palace . This was dismantled after the exhibition and rebuilt in Sydenham.