‘That’s what supporting Palace teaches you, how to expect the gut punch before it lands.’
It’s the Crystal Palace way, hope for the best but expect the worst. It’s the same for all teams, where the only way to win anything is by winning a tournament means coming top of whatever division at the end of the season.
I went on record in the Guardian comment section before the season began, predicting that Crystal Palace could make the Champions League, if Mateta hit form. Before you roll your eyes or shake your head, well you got that wrong, consider this: if you swapped the last seven results of last season, where we took 19 points from a possible 21, with the first seven games of this season, where we scraped just 3 points out of 24, Palace would currently be sitting third in the table.
We also lost focus during the FA Cup run and dropped points in the last five or so games. Otherwise, we’d probably be second. So my prediction wasn’t completely off. Okay, maybe I got carried away with the Oliver Glasner revolution and forgot about the ever-present “Palace Way.”
Over 40 years ago, I remember Granddad George telling my brother and I that “Palace never do anything,” while rubbing his finger and thumb together in that miserly gesture to emphasise how tight the club is at the top when something good is in the horizon. And how right he was.
What I admire about Glasner is that he didn’t take the fall for our awful start to the season. He rightly placed the blame on the club’s leadership for penny pinching and poor player recruitment, instead of investing in new players to rebuild after the loss of Micheal Olise. He was never properly backed.
So here we are again: trying to be clever with money, failing to act, and missing a golden opportunity. Perhaps the real reason Dougie Freedman left mid-season was because Glasner felt unsupported and knew where the fault truly lay?
Yet nothing can take away from the fact that Glasner picked us up from the brink. For three-quarters of the season, we played football worthy of Champions League qualification—just as I predicted.
And that’s why the FA Cup final is massive.
If we fail to win it, we could see this incredible team break apart. Mateta, Sarr, Guehi, Eze, and Wharton are all on the radar of bigger clubs. Glasner? He’ll be the hottest managerial ticket in town.
Should we win our first major trophy ever and qualify for Europe, with a new stand on the way, Crystal Palace really will be on the rise. But I feel a strange reticence. Decades of following Palace have trained me to expect disappointment, especially against Manchester City. Sure, play like we did against Aston Villa in the semis, and we could beat anyone. But Pep Guardiola is a master of big-game victories. And if this goes to penalties… forget it. Palace are notoriously bad at them.
Still, it’s not all doom and gloom. Being a Palace fan means learning to savour the small victories. We did the double over a cocky Brighton side who laughed at our slow start. Sweet revenge. In fact, for many of us, the quarter-final, where we beat Fulham and Brighton went out to Forest, was our FA Cup final. My wife will confirm that I was on my knees in front of the telly, punching the air when Brighton were eliminated.
This diehard will tell you: it’s been a brilliant season, Glasner has been sensational. Whether he’s our greatest manager ever is still up for debate, I laid out my criteria in a blog earlier this season:
But he’s certainly in the conversation. The players have upped their game. Sarr and Hughes in particular have been highlights.
And who knows? Maybe this is our moment. Maybe we can set in motion a period of success, challenging the footballing status qui, the punk rockers from South London. Home of the Damned and the classic Smash It Up. Maybe we can do that, I dream. After all, there’s talk of serious investment. We’ve got the best chairman in the league. If we keep Glasner and just lose one key player, we could become a genuine European force.
But I’m too invested in the Palace Way. As I write this on the eve of the FA Cup final, I’m already preparing for the heartbreak. I’m already wondering: will it be two early strikes from Man City? One of our players sent off within the first 15 minutes? Or some cruel twist of fate that turns the whole thing into a miserable affair?
That’s what supporting Palace teaches you, how to expect the gut punch before it lands.
Still… this is football. And with Glasner in charge, there’s always hope!
The Rights of Fans. 