May 5 2010

Crystal Palace

Jamesey looks back over a season with more ups and downs than a hooker's knickers.

It all started so promisingly.

The 09-10 season's opening game was against Plymouth Argyle and by some aberration of the FA computer, for once we were at home.

The first game of a new season is always an occasion for optimism. However horrendous the result there is so much time for things to change and, in the event, we drew 1-1 - Alan Lee's well-taken equaliser started his rehabilitation in a season which would see him become a firm supporters' favourite.

Who could have foreseen that Argyle would take the drop and we would escape by a whisker nine months later?

An expected defeat by Newcastle saw us bumble along until a very unpleasant mid-September 0-4 scragging by Scunthorpe United was a grim view of reality. The day marked the 20th anniversary of our famous 9-0 debacle against Liverpool. The Scouser result heralded a big investment programme in class players but that couldn't happen now under the spluttering Jordan regime.

However we did start to show a spell of good form with a five-game unbeaten run which ended at Leicester in mid-October.

By the end of the month rumours were thick on the ground that David Gold was sniffing around as a prospective buyer for the club which seemed like pretty good news. But, of course, West Ham were Mr Gold's real prey and so it transpired later in the season.

We then embarked on an extraordinary series of five 1-1 draws which ended in a home 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough and the end of November saw a magnificent 3-0 win over Watford and a display by Victor Moses which made you realise how much we would miss him when his inevitable departure to the Loadsamoulah-ship arrived.

The beginning of December brought us back down to earth with a dreadful home display against Doncaster Rovers who had yet to win an away game all season. They soon put that right and slammed three goals past us at Selhurst.

The festive break passed with a home win and an away draw and the New Year saw us beat Sheffield Wednesday to progress to the fourth round of the FA Cup.

A home draw against Wolves later in January meant we would have a tough replay away to a top-tier team but our pleasure would be short-lived.

Victor Moses was sold to Wigan and more heart-breakingly we went into administration for the second time in a decade or so and the 10-point deduction morphed us from promotion hopefuls to relegation possibles.

Mind you, there were consolations to file in the Palace happy memories scrapbook. DANNY BUTTERFIELD's unbelievable hat-trick in Wolverhampton brought us a home Cup tie against another top-tier club, Aston Villa.

So while the administration gloom deepened at SE25, our little Cup run gave us some reasons to be cheerful. A battling 2-2 draw at Selhurst brought us a replay at Villa Park where our Cup hopes ended and it was back to relegation worries and reality.

Meanwhile other concerns were coming to the fore and by the beginning of March our manager Neil Warnock packed his bags and crossed London to Queens Park Rangers and a new triumvirate took over the reins - Paul Hart, assisted by ex-Palace men, Dougie Freedman and John Pemberton.

As an eventful season drew to a close, Palace naturally did things the hard way and our CCC survival hinged on the last game of the campaign away to the Owls.

It was us or them and blessedly it was us who survived after an enthralling and heart-stopping game at Hillsborough.

But although the footballing side of the season is finished, as I write the sale of the club is still in uncertain waters.

We have been told that a crunch meeting at the end of May could decide whether we live to fight another day or, indeed, whether the club survives.

I find myself a creditor of CPFC, having coughed up for my 10-11 season ticket last November. I only hope I'll be using it come August.

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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