Month: August 2018

Why Crystal Palace Legend Wilf Zaha Was Right To Remain at the Club For Now

~ july1966

At the Palace we have legends based on loyalty shown to the club, Jim Cannon for instance and based on brilliance, Lombardo and Wrighty or based on personality and gumption and guts, Geoff Thomas.

Wilf Zaha ticks all three.

But let us not kid ourselves Wilf would not have stayed if the right offer came in. Instaed he signed a new contract.

Wilf has shown in walking away from the England set up for the Ivory Coast, that he thinks outside the box and is very canny. Another good season will see him at a world class club rather than the also rans that showed an interest.

Everton, Tottenham and Chelsea all were interested in signing him. It was not mutual. These are clubs 4-7 in the status of clubs in the UK. Had one of the 1-4. The Mans, Liverpool or Arsenal come in for him he’d have left. I count City as one would have done Chelsea a decade ago as the current stinking rich ‘it’ club. So not a traditional great. Left with the blessing of all Palace fans who recognise his commitment and love for the Palace, where he started his career when he was 12, but recognise the drive and ambition that will take him away from us. Probably for the peak of his career before the wanderer will ultimately return. We hope. In that he has clearly chosen to remain at the Palace over the top club ‘nearly runs’ leaves Palace fans feeling a million dollars and cemented his place as the greatest Palace player ever. Our love has been rewarded.

I think Wilf has highlighted that there is a huge gap between the top 4 big clubs and the three undisputed smaller ones. I thought no way, when Garth Crooks suggested Wilf should go to Spurs, they are not good enough for him. Wilf will thrive at the top table and until his chance comes Palace fans can only pinch ourselves that one of our own is a world class player and happy in the bosom of his hometown club for the time being. 

So good on Wilf for bucking the trend of  running off to a bigger club and hanging on for one of the World’s giants where we can proudly watch him as one of our own who never sold out.

 

Crystal Palace Holmesdale Fanatics. Too Big For Their Boots ?

~ july1966

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When the Holmesdale stand was built at Selhurst Park it was partly funded by fans buying 5 year season tickets at £600 a pop. My father and I duly obliged. I didn’t miss a game but due to the product on the pitch, my loyalty seriously stretched. So I come at this with a little authority. Since I gave up on top level football and took to non league a sea change occurred at Selhurst Park in the Holmesdale.

https://bit.ly/2MVYqAH

The once fairly quiet stand of my days has been replaced by the most vibrant stand in the Premiership. To the bottom left hand side, as you look at the stand, we have seen the creation of the Holmesdale Fanatics. I won’t wax too lyrical, suffice to say they have turned Selhurst into a vibrant stadium and helped rebrand Crystal Palace as the punks of top flight football and made us the ‘coolest’ club in the country to many of the uninitiated. Utterly loathed but envied by the south coast enemy Brighton and Hove Albion who wouldn’t know an atmosphere if it hit them in the eye. Or when the Palace turn up to the Amex.

The couple of hundred of them, encouraged and supported by the owners of the club, built a true almost Wimbledon Crazy Gang, Millwall No one likes us South London tradition of attitude.

But as with all good things it has gone tits up. The Fanatics are like marmite to the extent you love or hate them, but everyone agrees they made a great noise and helped create the vibrant atmosphere Selhurst is now renowned for. Sadly for the Fanatics, being regarded in such acclaim by their peers and football in general was not enough. Ill advised ‘football terrorism’ etc as extra curriculum was badly thought out and executed and won them no admirers. Stick to what you are good at.

To cut a long story short although the club often acceded to their demands recognising their importance, in the close season the club took the view they would not over the issue of demands by the Fanatics over seating. To which the Fanatics merely announced they would disband. And have. Fair play to them someone doing what they say they will do is rare these days.

Let’s get one thing straight, as great as the atmosphere they create is they have not created Fortress Selhurst. Our home record is poor. So let’s dispel the myth they are worth home points, they are not. The held view is they regards themselves as overly important and a higher grade of fan than the other 99% of watching supporters. They are not. They are the same and this is their downfall. They morphed from something exciting to arrogant.

That is not to damn them. They got carried away by their own press. They are an enormous asset to Crystal Palace Football Club but the club are right to knock them down a peg or two. They are not the messiah of the terraces, they are the best section of fans in British football and if that is not enough for them and they feel they deserve special treatment, then there is no place for them at the Palace and the club are right to show them the two fingers.

But like many Palace fans I hope the matter is resolved and the Fanatics return as they are brilliant, but need to just stick to the task in hand of making Selhurst special and annoying the tits of our friends from the south coast

Why Ebay Customer’s Are So Sick and Their Car’s So Crap

~ july1966

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It is the scourge of selling furniture on line. I have sold over 1000 pieces of furniture on line over the years, mainly on ebay. Nice to sell the item and generally if the furniture is being collected it generally is without fuss. But sadly ebay customers suffer from two chronic problems, regular spells of sickness to themselves or their cars that correspond with an arranged collection.

So you arrange to collect some furniture. Simple. But something has cropped up that takes priority. Something more important or frankly you have has a tough week and would like to rearrange.  That’s fine. At this point the customer merely needs to say the day is not convenient. From the seller’s point of view, slightly annoying but hey ho, that’s selling on line.

But what is intensely annoying is the lies. I know a lot of people in the trade and we all agree, if a customer can’t make it, just cancel. But no they lie. It is always a sudden sickness tragically occurs on the arranged day or the motor has broken down. It is always, bar an odd one or two a lie. Probably 1 in 5 collections are aborted and it is always one of those two reasons.

The message comes through from the customer. They have just pinged over what they consider to be a great excuse. But we all know it is a lie. They delude themselves they are cunning but they are merely part of the ebay furniture buyer’s lie factory. No big deal of course but why not just say, ‘can I re arrange ?’ But so few do, they just find it easier to casually lie from behind the safety and the comfort of their keyboard.

Any sellers reading this, this is my solution. I immediately email back and say I am oh so sorry for their poor health or broken down car and would they like me to cancel the sale. This correctly regarded by the buyer as a basic, collect or you’ll lose the item, the seller knows you are lying. Good as gold they get back and never muck you about again as you have basically said to them, not that bothered if I sell to you. Collect or else and they are always SO sheepish when they collect.